


Among the Ruins

by distractedKat



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: (not any of our couples), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Crew as Family, Everyone Needs A Hug, F/M, Gen, M/M, Retelling with a twist, abusive relationship dynamic, the whump my twin sister specifically asked for, what happened to taako, when stealing a century goes even worse than expected
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-12
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2019-02-13 19:55:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 81,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12991359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/distractedKat/pseuds/distractedKat
Summary: In one universe, Sazed tries to get rid of Taako with poison. In this one, he finds a more lucrative solution. It still doesn't end well.Years later, Lucretia steels herself to enter Wonderland with Cam as her guide. What she's looking for is the Animus Bell.What she finds is Taako.Everything goes downhill from there.





	1. The Animus Bell

**Author's Note:**

> *creeps into the fandom* Uh, hi! I never met a character I liked and didn't want to ruin, so. Here you go! Have some suffering, free of charge :D
> 
> I wrote this for NaNo so it's eighty thousand (80,000) words long (oops) and also finished. I think I might update weekly?? There's...eight chapters? No, nine. Nine chapters and three interludes.
> 
> Sorry not sorry, Taako, Lup, Kravitz, et al.

Lucretia thought of everything when she set the others--her family--up with their new lives. Well--Merle and Magnus and Taako, anyway. With Lup still missing, and now Barry too, and Davenport being...affected, as he was. She could at least do her best for the three who'd come through alright. A family for Merle. A new rustic home for Magnus. A stage and an audience for Taako, with hopefully enough support from them to fill in the gaps left when Lup--

It wasn't like she was going to leave them like this forever. She just had to find the Grand Relics, put the Light together, protect this world from the Hunger, and then she could get them back. They could find Barry and Lup together, and everything would be fine.

_Soon,_  she thought, watching Taako set up for his first show.  _Have fun; I'll be back for you all soon._

They would be safe and comfortable and loved while she was gone.

Lucretia had thought of everything.

 

Lucretia was wrong.

 

Years passed. She built an organization around her goals, gathering others to help her locate the Relics. They'd been hard to pinpoint  _before_ the voidfish, but now that no one remembered them...

She'd overcome worse obstacles. The people she'd gathered on her fake moon base were perfectly suited to this task. In no time at all, they'd found the first Relic. The Animus Bell. Barry's deadly treasure. If only--

She went after Wonderland. A sorcerer named Cam promised her he knew enough about the place to get her in and out without too much pain. Everything was going according to plan. Except—

Taako was there.

Somehow, impossibly, examining the entrance to Wonderland: Taako was there. 

He looked—amazing, of course. But not very much like himself. At some point, he'd lost his signature hat and not bothered to replace it, letting his golden hair shine in its loose, wild braid. Instead of vibrant colors and mismatched patters, he wore a simple black thigh-length coat cinched tight at his waist and flared around his hips. Even his knee-high boots were black, although the sheer height of the stiletto provided a strange comfort.

The only color in the whole outfit came from the stones in his numerous earrings and bracelets. His single necklace was a thin silver chain wrapped twice around his neck, once tight across his throat like a choker, the rest in a long lavaliere that dipped into his jacket. Whatever pendant or trinket he wore at the end was hidden in his coat but heavy enough to keep the chain taut.

One of Taako's ears flicked in Lucretia's direction a tell he'd been unable to shake since the first day they'd met back on the homeworld. Even when his expression was perfect, those expressive ears gave him away. A surge of affection swelled in Lucretia, love and grief and joy and dread, all mixed in together.

It was so good to see him Lucretia almost felt weak with it. She knew he wouldn't know her. She'd have to pretend not to know _him_ , to send him away quickly. He wouldn't be an asset in Wonderland, with everything he'd learned about magic forgotten alongside Lup and the IPRE and the century they'd run from the Hunger. Even still, it was...beyond description. Just to  _see_ him, to see one of them again, after so long. 

She stepped forward, then hesitated.

Taako was supposed to be on the road. He had a show, an audience, fans who loved him and at least one assistant whose livelihood depended on him. That, even more than his current state memory-related powerlessness, shot a thrill of worry through her.

What was he doing here?

At last, seemingly satisfied with the amount of time he'd spent ignoring them, Taako turned. His ears settled at neutral low even as he smiled, hands stuck deep in the pockets of his flirty coat. "Hail and well met, my dudes," he called. "What're a couple little human kids doing here?"

Lucretia blinked.

Cam swelled with indignation. "I am not a kid," he snapped, throwing his shoulders back to put his bandolier of assorted potions and wands on more prominent display. "My  _name_ is Cam, and I am--"

"Sure," Taako interrupted, honey gold eyes locked on Lucretia, sharp despite his lazy expression. "Nice to meet you, Dan. And you are?"

"Lucretia." She swallowed hard, hands tightening on the Bulwark staff. "And...and you?"

For a moment, Taako's eyes narrowed, a flutter of suspicion that pulled his ears further back against his skull. His smile grew. "I'm Taako."

"From T.V.?" Lucretia said, trying to make it sound like a guess.

Taako ears snapped back, flatter than she'd seen them in a dozen worlds. "That's a weird thing to say."

Lucreita's heart tripped in her chest. Panic tingled on her cheeks, down her neck. "...Is it?" she asked as calmly as she could. "Maybe I'm thinking of a different Taako."

"My dude." He cocked one hip, perching a hand on it, such a classic Taako stance that Lucretia felt a smile tugging her mouth. "I just met you, and this is crazy, but here's the sitch: there is only one Taako, and you're looking at him. Ch'boy is a one-of-a-kind miracle." He swept a hand down his body, indicating everything from shoulder down. "You think this is easy enough to copy? No. Accept no substitutes."

"Can we go?" Cam demanded of Lucretia. "We don't have the time to waste on some  _guy."_

"Taako time is never wasted, kiddo," Taako said, smirking when Cam glared at him.

"Don't call me kiddo!"

Taako flicked the hand not on his hip dismissively. "You're all pretty young, dude. A human with no gray hair? Basically a baby." He jabbed a finger in Lucretia's direction. "You wanna let Taako in on that T.V. thing? Have we met?"

"Oh, no, I just--" Lucretia fought the urge to squirm. Instead, she straightened her spine, lifting her chin to telegraph a level of self-assurance she didn't quite feel at the moment. "I saw a show, a few years back, with a chef who called himself Taako from T.V. I thought it might be you when I heard your name."

"That old thing?" Taako rolled his eyes, losing enough interest in her that his ears started to relax again. "Nah, that was fun for a little while, but I outgrew it pretty quick. Not really Taako's bag, y'dig?"

"And Wonderland is?" Cam sneered. "Your  _bag,_ I mean."

"Rude children get put in the naughty corner," Taako said without looking at him. He turned back toward Wonderland. "The way people talk about this place, I had to check it out. Everybody's got a greatest wish."

"And what's yours?" Lucretia asked.

Taako's ears swiveled back in a little show of some bitter emotion, matched by the twisted grin he shot her. "Spoilers," he hissed through his teeth. Then he smiled, friendly and warm even as his ears stayed put. "Let's team up."

Cam barked a laugh. "And get dragged down by some amateur? Not today, buddy." He nodded toward Lucretia. "My job is to get her through Wonderland, not watch over somebody in way over their head."

"Rude," Taako said with a casual shrug. "Fine then.  _Don't_ invite an indescribably powerful wizard into your party. See if I care." He turned back to Wonderland. Just above the door nearest them, his name wrote itself in bold, flaming letters. "Me first," he added with a smirk.

"Wait!" Lucretia cried before she could think better of it. Even if it was safer, if it worked better for her plan, if logic said she should let him go, she couldn't. Wonderland killed people. It was home to a Grand Relic, to  _Barry's_ Grand Relic. She couldn't let him face the Animus Bell alone. Not at full power, and certainly not crippled by her machinations.

She just couldn't.

"We'll go together," she declared, watching her name scrawl itself below Taako's. "The more people we have," she told Cam, "the better our odds are of retrieving our item safely. It's better this way."

"Teamwork for the win," Taako said.

Cam rolled his eyes but didn't argue. "It's your mission," he muttered as his name joined theirs. "But we'll regret this, mark my word."

Together, they stepped inside.

 

Wonderland ruined them.

Oh, as a team, they were amazing. Taako was sarcastic and rude and dismissive, but he helped them were he could, protecting people he didn't know. Unexpected growth, for him. Maybe this was who he became without Lup to draw all his protective instincts; he just...took care of others. Of strangers?

It was weird, but it helped. He fought at about a fifth or sixth level proficiency. Nowhere near his true strength, even though it was a great deal more than Lucretia had expected. (It wasn't enough.) They weren't allowed to heal, but he had bandages, salves, little tricks to keep them stitched together. He let them support him too, taking comfort when they offered it. Bizarre behavior from the elf Lucretia knew, but--

It wasn't enough.

Their teamwork was good. Their environment was hell, insurmountable. Unsurvivable.

Another mistake.

The twins running it, liches, were a dark parody of Taako and Lup's effortless coordination. They disguised their torture in games and choices, but none of it was fair. None of it actually led to the Animus Bell.

It was all a trap.

They'd already given up so much. Taako had handed over most of his jewelry, lost the memory of learning to use a bow. Lucretia was color blind, unable to taste sour things. Cam--he kept having pieces of himself taken. A foot, first, then that leg up to the knee. How much more could they stand to lose?

Between rounds of that Pan-forsaken wheel, they battled monsters, forsook strangers, played stupid games. And then--

Lucretia landed on the clock. Time. They wanted twenty years of her life. She couldn't give it to them. She couldn't. Humans already lived such a short time. How could she possibly--

She tightened her grip on the Bulwark Staff.

At the end of this, she would have the Animus Bell. Two sevenths of the Light, back together. She'd broken her family for this, taken their memories. What was twenty years compared to that? If they took the years and finally revealed themselves, left themselves vulnerable to attack, it could be the difference between success and failure. She took a deep breath, let it out, straightened her spine and lifted her chin; she was ready.

"And that's about enough of that," Taako said from behind her. Lucretia and Cam both startled, spinning to face him where he lounged against the far wall. None of them were unscathed, covered in dirt and blood and assorted remains of different monsters. Somehow Taako still managed to make it look good.

Lup would have loved this.

"No interrupting," Edward said in that pleasant, dangerous voice. "It's still her turn."

"How about fuck you," Taako said, examining his nails. "I mean, don't get me wrong, it's been fun. Wall-to-wall hilarity. But Taako's bored now."

"Bored?" Lydia hummed. "Well, that's too bad. We'll have to try harder from here on out!" 

"What are you doing!" Cam cried. "Don't  _antagonize_ them!"

One of Taako's ears flicked in Cam's direction: Not in worry but in irritation.

Lucretia felt the first tug of apprehension.

"Not talking to you, Dan," Taako said, finally pushing off the wall to saunter toward Lucretia and the wheel. "You liches have a pretty neat gig here, don't you? A little trite, but not bad for a bunch of undead fucks. I've seen worse set-ups. Let's make a deal: You give me your bell, I let you keep playing this game. You keep your bell, I tear this whole place down around your ears and take it anyway."

The silence that followed his proclamation was deep with shock. Then the twins began to laugh.

"How," Lucretia began, spinning to face Taako. "How could you possibly--!"

Taako ignored her. 

"Why would we do that?" Edward chuckled. "I hate to break it to you, champ, but you're not doing so well here."

"Counter offer!" Lydia chimed in. "We keep the bell, you keep playing our game, nobody ever leaves, and we live forever!"

"No," Lucretia whispered.

"I like mine better," Taako said.

"I like your spirit," Lydia said. "Here's an idea: We'll let you leave right now, no more games, and keep playing with the other two instead."

"Ooo," Edward agreed, "that sounds fun! I do love a good abandonment."

Taako laughed. "What is it you think I'm doing here?" he asked. "I wouldn't abandon them any more than I would let you take twenty years of the kiddo's life!"

Love washed over Lucretia, love and gratitude and feeling of such smallness in the face of Taako's protection.

Then he said, "That kind of misery would basically turbo power you for, like, a month. Not a chance, my dudes. Bell or death: Pick."

"You said we were a team," Cam hissed.

"Taako lied," he said, arms crossed, impatient.

"We're going to have to say no," Lydia said.

"Figured," Taako agreed. "Just remember, you asked for this."

The liches were still laughing when Taako started his attack. 

His magic unfolded like a physical creature, lashing out with coordinated bursts of fire and frost, light and wind. The illusions on Wonderland collapsed, revealing the trap at its bare truth. Lydia and Edward were wrenched from their place above the maze, entangled in black tentacles, held at Taako's mercy.

"Please," Edward gasped. "We'll give you the bell!"

Taako smiled and leaned over them, braid sliding over his shoulder as he dipped down face-to-face. Muck and dust and blood slid from his clothes in a wave of Prestidigitation, leaving him in as perfect a state as he'd come in. "Taako doesn't do second chances."

He tore Wonderland down around them. Screams echoed among the thunder of crumbling walls, falling ceiling, all while Taako stood untouched, unmoving, the eye of a personal hurricane. A high-pitched shriek cut off abruptly. Taako kept his eyes on Edward and Lydia, watching them die.

A chunk of ceiling fell onto Lucretia, pinning her on her back against a toppled wall, crushing her right leg. She lost sight of Cam, his arm raised over his head to protect it and then gone in the next moment. The destruction felt like it took hours. Lucretia tried to cast a protection spell but had been out of slots since the last battle. She could do nothing, not for herself, not for any of them, as Wonderland fell.

Finally, it ended. The world stilled. And there was a great silence.

Lucretia opened her eyes. Taako stood watching, pleased, as empty tentacles writhed where Lydia and Edward had once been. He hummed, looking around now, and began picking his way through the rubble.

"Taako," Lucretia tried to call. Her breath caught in her lungs, produced more of a wet bubble than an actual name.

One of his ears lifted tall and swiveled in her direction. He turned as it laid back down, looking at her with an open, quizzical expression. "What's up, kiddo?"

_You said we were a team,_  she tried to tell him, an accusation trapped in the blood leaking into her lungs.  _You fought with us._

He must have seen some of it in her face, some measure of her confusion and betrayal. He went to her, crouching at her side in those ridiculous heels, a casual display of his well-honed grace. Grace he shouldn't have remembered, tentacles he shouldn't have remembered, Sunbust and Whirlwind that he  _shouldn't have--!_

"Aw, pumpkin." He flicked a lock of dirty hair off her forehead, not well enough for it to stay put but just so that it would swing back in her eyes. "Tell you what. Since you've been such a champ about all this, I'll give you a free tip. A lesson from Taako to..." He tilted his head. "What was your name, again? Luscious? Eh, whatever. So, kid, here it is: Nobody's actually on your side. 'Kay? Nobody's going to help you out of the--" He rolled his eyes, his whole head, his shoulders, to underline his derision. "--the  _goodness of their heart,_ or whatever goopy shit human parents are teaching their kids these days."

Taako stood and walked away, gesturing aggressively with his hands as he picked his way once more through the rubble. "I mean, I've met some gullible types in my day, but you? Just joining up with some random elf you maybe saw cook some food one time? You really take the cake, buddy. It's almost like you  _wanted_ me to use you as bait." He looked around briefly, then knelt to rummage through a pile of fallen ceiling. "I was going to use the other people in this hellhole, but you made it way more fun." He turned back to tap his temple by his right eye and smirk at her. "True Seeing. Get you some." Then he bent forward, pulling something out of the refuse to buff it against his shirt.

The Animus Bell. Even with her blood loss, Lucretia felt her heart leap into her throat. He couldn't possibly.

"You've been great,"  he said, spreading his arms to include the dead and dying around him. "Really. But ol' Taako's got places to be."

"No," Lucretia breathed.

Taako tossed his long braid over his shoulder. "Open your eyes, kid," he said, cruel in his dismissal. "You were weaker and slower and too gullible by far. So now you lose, and this bell is mine. Taako appreciates your sacrifice." He twinkled his fingers at her. "Buh-bye now."

And he was gone.

At first, Lucretia felt nothing. Soon enough, the silence around her and the pain in her broken bones swelled up through her heart and higher until she felt tears rolling down her cheeks, fat and helpless, removing even more fluids from her body, useless, stupid,  _pointless things--_

"Lucretia? What the hell happened to you?"

Her heart jolted again. She meant to turn quickly toward the sound--the painfully familiar voice--but she didn't have the energy left for it anymore. Her head lolled on her shoulder until she could see him.

Barry Bluejeans. Lich, wizard, science officer. Friend. Hovering in his red robe above the devastation that had once housed his Grand Relic. "Barry," she tried to say, but nothing came out.

He cursed, rushing across the space between them to search her dying body for--

Her Stone of Farspeech. "Who do I call?" he demanded, shaking her shoulder when she started to fade. "Focus, Lucretia! You don't get to just die here, we have a  _lot_ to talk about. Who do I  _call?"_

"Avi," she breathed. "He'll have...transport..."

The world faded. Vision first, then feeling, until all she had was Barry's voice, in her ears again after so long. That went too. She and the darkness remain.

And then that, too, was gone.

 

Lucretia came to in a stark white room. That was unexpected enough. The Bulwark Staff rested next to her on the uncomfortable mattress. She took in her surroundings and...kind of just wanted to go back to being unconscious. She was is the Bureau of Balance infirmary, usually empty but now filled with--survivors? Cam was there, and others she didn't recognize, and--

Barry Bluejeans hovered at her bedside, arms crossed, skeletal face projecting more anger than bones should be able to. "Start talking, Lucretia," he demanded. "What have you done? Where is my  _Bell?_ "

"I don't have it," she said, nothing over a murmur as she shut her eyes for a brief moment of peace.

Barry swooped down next to her. "Don't try that bullshit on me! Where  _is it?"_

"I saw Taako," she said.

"What? Lucretia, you're not making any sense. What  _happened?"_

She didn't tell him. Couldn't.

Cam spoke up from the bed next to hers. "We went to Wonderland to get the Bell. It was supposed to be an in-and-out mission, but it just-- Wonderland wasn't what I thought it was." He swallowed hard. "Not what I expected. My own fault. We would have died."

"What does this have to do with--"

"There was an elf," Cam continued, scowl wrinkling the skin between his eyebrows. "He said his name was Taako. I thought he was a pushover but-- He killed the liches, brought down Wonderland, took the Bell, and left us all to die. So fuck that guy, basically."

Barry whipped around to face Lucretia again. She watched his shock war with anger. "Taako did that?  _Taako?_ How did you erase Lup and leave his memories of magic untouched?"

"I didn't." She cleared her throat to try and shake some of her melancholy. There were still five Relics unaccounted for; she should focus on that, and worry about the Bell (about Taako, his impossible magic, the cruelty of his words) later. Firming her resolve, she struggled to sit up. "I... He lost those with Lup and the IPRE."

"Then how did--"

"I don't know, Barry." She swung her feet onto the floor and tried to stand. Barry caught her with Mage Hand when she stumbled, and Lucretia found her hand reaching for his familiar robe before she could school herself back calm again. "That's something I'll have to figure out at a later date. For now, I have other matters that require my attention."

Barry rolled his head in place of eyes he currently lacked. "Don't try to pull that on me, Lucy. I know you, remember? This isn't something we can deal with later, it's got to be faced head on. You're always leaving loose ends that come back to bite you!"

"Not this time," she said, resolute in her conviction. "This is something I have to do, Barry, and I'm going to. If you think you can stop me--"

"For Pan's sake, Lucretia!" He grabbed her shoulders with Mage Hand to give her a solid shake. "I'm not trying to stop you, I'm trying to help! Why won't you  _let me?"_

"I have to collect the Light again to save this world," she snapped, shaking him off. "I'm not going to abandon it! I can beat the Hunger, I can lock it away--"

"You can't lock this  _world_ away from-- No. You know what? Now's not the time." He took a deep, unnecessary breath. "One thing at a time, Lucy, alright? Where is Taako?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "He took the Bell and vanished. I can't...I can't focus on him, Barry. I have to get the other Relics."

"Before he does," Barry said with an understanding nod. "I can help you, Lucretia, but you know we'll need the others too."

"No," she said, trying to push him away. "No! I gave them good lives, they're safe until--"

"Until what?" he demanded. "Until Taako gets the Light and this world is doomed and we have to leave again?"

"He won't," Lucretia insisted, picking up her staff. "I can get them first. He won't even be looking for them, he doesn't  _remember--"_

"He didn't remember the Bell either!  _Damn_ it, Lucretia, what do I have to do to get you to accept what's in front of you?" He grabbed the Staff with his magic, jerking it to force her attention onto him. "You thought Taako was safe and he's  _not._ He's...he's killing people and going after Relics you  _fed to the voidfish._  He knew what my Bell was, you can't possibly think this ends here!"

"It will," she said. "I'll make it!"

"We need the others--"

"I just need a  _chance!"_

Barry let the Staff go so abruptly she stumbled. "Fine," he said. "You think you can do this alone? Fine. I will give you  _one chance."_

"Barry," she tried to interrupt.

He held up a skeletal hand. "I know where her Gauntlet is."

Lucretia sucked in a sharp breath. "Barry--"

"My next body is almost ready. You give me back my memories, let me run with whatever crew you put together. We get the Gauntlet? Fine. We'll let everyone keep living their lives and do this thing ourselves. The  _second_ it goes off like it did with Wonderland, though, the whole  _crew_ gets brought back. You take this deal, I work with you. You screw me over for--" He twiddled bony fingers in wild air quotes. "--my own good? I dedicate every waking moment of my existence to ruining yours."

Lucretia took a deep breath. Held it; let it go. She stuck out her hand. "Deal," she said, and they shook on it.


	2. The Phoenix Fire Gauntlet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My emotional response to your response to this fic has been a delicate combination of that flaming Elmo gif, the gif with the bunny hat daughter from Bob's Burgers laughing, and the way [Final Pam](https://youtu.be/UNsFdzRP-vM) says I WILL HAVE YOU BABY.
> 
> Thank you for being here and being awesome! Enjoy more madness :D ...Not actually much madness in this one. WAY more madness in the next one. Enjoy anyway!
> 
> Anybody got any theories? Hit me with them!

Barry meant to stay calm. He and Lucretia had their deal, one that would almost doubtlessly end up in his favor. Nobody on Faerun was going to be able to face Taako and win. Nobody born here naturally, anyway. Taako had once pulled down a mountain to give Lup and Barry an extra ten seconds to get the Light back to the Starblaster. That was about halfway through the hundred years. What he could do by the time they reached this world was just...

If Taako needed someone to stop him, someone to save him, beat him while not killing him, it'd have to be the crew. The  _whole_ crew. Sure, it meant Taako would probably get the Gauntlet, but that wasn't Barry's real goal anyway. He needed a different sort of firepower.

_She_ would be there, wherever the Gauntlet was. She had to be. He'd get her back, and then they could go after Taako, even if it was just the two of them. The two of them could do anything, especially when it came to Taako.

So Barry meant to keep a low profile, not rock the boat or make any waves, get inoculation for his new body, and head out.

Then Lucretia showed him the second voidfish.

"Holy shit, Lucretia!" he blurted before he could stop himself, rushing across her office to put a hand on the little tank. "It's a fucking  _baby?"_

"They're safe here," she insisted. "Everything's fine. I'll reunite them when it's time."

"How could you do this to Fisher?" he demanded, whirling on her with one skeletal hand still pressed against the tank. "How could you do this to  _Magnus?_ You know he'll feel responsible!"

"I am the only person who knows about the second voidfish," Lucretia said, tipping her chin up defiantly. "They are safe here. I need them to remain secret, to keep certain details on a need-to-know basis, even for those I've brought to this base to help collect the Relics. I will reunite the voidfish as soon as it's safe to." She crossed to her desk to pull out a small metal flask. "Now. Do you want to begin your mission, or not?"

Barry magicked the flask from her with a sound of deep disappointment. "When did you stop trusting us?" he asked, back to her as he filled it with considerably more of the goop than he needed, filled it right to the top--just in case.

"It was never about trust," she said, sounding exhausted. "What the Relics were doing to Faerun was wrong, and it was hurting everybody. Someone had to make it stop." 

Beneath his anger and the years of hurt, Barry's heart ached for her, for the suffering she'd brought on herself and unleashed on them. "We would have helped you," he said softly. "We could have found a way. But you didn't let us. Even after a hundred years together, you had to go it alone." He straightened, twisting the cap on the flask and tucking it way safely. "Now we see what came of that. Lup gone, Merle and Magnus in the wind, Taako's..." He shook his head. "Who know what you've done with Davenport." As he turned, he caught the very end of a guilty expression before Lucretia schooled herself back to calm. "You should have trusted us, Lucy."

"I told you," she said, "it isn't  _about_ \--"

Barry held up one hand to stop her. "Lup was already gone before you made this choice," he said, floating toward the door, "so that's not on you, but Merle and Magnus? Davenport?  _Taako_ _?_  Whatever happened to them, that's all you. I hope this is worth what you'll lose with them."

Lucretia drew in a sharp breath. "I'm going to cut this world off from the Hunger," she said, barely a whisper, firm even as she shut her eyes. "I'm going to  _save--"_  She shook her head. "It's done, Barry. They might not understand, but. It's done. We'll get the Relics, save the world, find Lup and Magnus and Merle, fix Davenport, rescue Taako, and we'll have a  _home._ We can stop running and finally live. Even if they never forgive me, it'll be worth it."

"Our ship is powered by bonds, Lucretia," Barry said. "What do you think will happen if you sever every bond this world has ever had? We of all people know how vital they are. You can't just  _break them_  and think everything will be okay."

His words had no effect on her. She looked away, jaw clenched tight, one hand white-knuckled on the Bulwark Staff.

Even though he knew he'd never sway her, he couldn't help a parting jab: "Lup might forgive you for leaving her wherever she is all these years, but what is she going to do when she finds out what happened to Taako?"

Lucretia flinched.

Satisfied and furious, Barry left. It was the work of less than an hour to get himself back in his body and inoculated. He had at least three, four people's worth of goop left, more than enough if he needed it for the others. 

Being emotional and incorporeal was a whole different ballgame than emotional and physical. Once he was back in his body, memories intact, he shook and wept, longing for Lup, every inch of him desperate for her. He wanted Lup, and Taako, and Magnus, Merle, Davenport, all the precious members of his family stolen from him when he wasn't looking, wasn't able to fight back. He wanted his home on the Starblaster, his books, the bed he shared with the one great love of his life. 

He wanted  _Lup_ _._

And he'd have her, soon enough. He knew where her Gauntlet was, and she had to be there too. He just had to gather a party and go.

No problem.

Finding a Rockseeker to open the cave wasn't a big deal. It was a common enough bloodline, and one of them was interested in the family treasure in Wave Echo Cave anyway. They just needed a little muscle, a few hired hands, to get them there. They posted a notice with Craig the Gnome for the rest of their party, and spent the next day packing their supplies. The day after that, their ad was filled.

By Merle and Magnus.

When Barry first saw them, he almost cried out with shock.

How could they be here? In all of Faerun, what were the odds  _they_ would answer his call? Warmth filled Barry, toes to scalp, filling his eyes and making his chin wobble so he had to turn away.

Bonds.

It was their bonds, for sure. Lucretia thought they could be sacrificed for some greater good, but there was nothing in any world, on any plane, in any planar system, more powerful. Their bonds were all they had, all they needed. The love of each other, the strength of their family.

"...Is that guy  _cryin_ _'?"_

"Shh, Merle! Some guys get real emotional about traveling. Don't be a dick." 

"I'm just sayin', maybe we oughtta think twice about this. If the guy can't handle leaving on a trip, what kind of quest is this even gonna be?"

"Uh, the kind where we get paid so much at the end we retire and never work again."

"That's fair. But jeez, my cousin's workin' with some weird guys these days."

A large hand landed on Barry's shoulder. "Hail and well met!" He turned to look up into warm, familiar eyes, older than he'd ever seen, distant and uncaring in a startling way. "I'm Magnus Burnsides."

"...Barry," he said, trying to get his emotions under better control. "Barry Bluejeans."

Merle immediately began snickering. Magnus elbowed him in the head, even though he was snickering too.

_Gods,_ even when they were being huge jerks, it was just. Indescribably good to see them. "Gundren went ahead of us, wants us to meet him there. Let's, uh. Let's get this. Going. Get started. If, uh. If you're ready."

"Can I drive the wagon?" Magnus asked, already heading out. "I have vehicle proficiency, if nobody else wants to."

Barry's heart twisted. "You can do it," he croaked.

Magnus and Merle traded a doubtful look. Then Magnus made a less-than-subtle hand gesture to indicate money, and Merle signed mightily.

"Alright, fine," Merle grumbled. "I'll sit in the back with 'im. But you'd better get those waterworks under control," he told Barry firmly. "Pan knows I don't have the patience for that stuff."

Barry laughed, wet and giddy and full of broken grief. "Promise," he croaked.

"You'll see, Larry," Magnus said, climbing up in front to grab the reins. "This'll be a piece of cake."

It was not a piece of cake.

They lost Gundren to a bunch of gerblins, which meant they had to go find him, which entangled them in this big...HR... _thing_  with the gerblins and a friggin'  _bugbear._  The bugbear was acting weird too, way more polite than he should be, less...bitey. Or murderous. With a gentle accent rather than the coarse tone most bugbears spoke with.

"By the way," the bugbear--Klarg--asked after they'd taken care of Yeemick and while Magnus was playing with the enormous wolf that previously had tried to kill them. "What was it you were trying to find here in my caves? It was very rude of me not to ask earlier!"

"Oh," Magnus said distractedly, "we're looking for our employer, Gundrain."

"No," Merle said, sounding peevish. "Gun _dren_ _._ My _cousin,_ Gundren Rockseeker."

"Hmm." Klarg rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Well, this  _is_  a pickle."

Barry took a cautious step back. "...Oh?"

Klarg nodded with what looked like chagrin. "Yes. You see, I was asked by a dear dear friend of mine to be on the lookout for people trying to find Gundren Rockseeker. I'm grateful that you were able to help me with Yeemick, of course, but you're just not my friends in the same way. I'm sure you understand."

"Oh, sure," Merle said with a loose shrug. "Of course, man, you gotta look out for your friends!"

"I knew you'd be reasonable, you guys really  _get_ me." He lifted a mighty paw in preparation to attack. "No hard feelings, then!"

Barry cast Sleep and they ran. Magnus wanted to fight, but also didn't want to actually  _hurt_ Klarg, and Barry hustled him out in the ensuing mental debate.

That was the second time he considered inoculating them. The first, of course, was when he set eyes on them at the beginning. With how pressed they were for time, he didn't think they could risk a long break-down like the one he'd had, and he'd held off. Now he thought maybe they should just hunker down and  _do it._  But...

It was going to take them time to sort through all this...bullshit. Their lives, what Lucretia did to them, how the hundred years fit in with their time here in Faerun. Maybe it wouldn't be bad. Maybe they'd be as surprised and happy to see and remember each other as Barry had been to see them together.

Regardless, there wasn't time. Not yet. Soon. Once they had Lup...

Soon.

They pressed on, through the slime and the...robot. Through traps and dangers, all the way to the vault. And on the way--

He found her. Found the skeleton and the robe and her Umbra Staff and realized what must have happened. She was a wizard, and she'd been defeated. The Umbra Staff did what she'd built it to. 

Lup was in the staff.

Barry tripped twice running to it. He touched the staff, touched the skeleton's cheekbone, felt so many things all at once he couldn't tell what any of it was. The heart he'd grown in a body he'd manufactured to continue his search for her raced like a rabbit's. He tried to say her name and couldn't, could barely form it. Her name was in every beat of his heart, every rush of air in his lungs.  _Lup_ _Lup_ _Lup_ _._  Everything he needed in any world, right before him. He curled around the Umbra Staff with tears dripping down his face, watering the white bones and red robe and multi-colored umbrella. He'd found her.

He'd found her.

He'd  _found her._

Lup Lup Lup, gods, he'd found her.

He had to get her out.

Before he could, the door of the vault went molten orange, shook violently, and exploded outward.

Gundren Rockseeker stepped out, Phoenix Fire Gauntlet bright on his arm.

"Gundren," Merle called. "Man is it good to see you! How've you been, buddy?"

"This Gauntlet is my birthright," Gundren said.

"Nobody said otherwise," Merle said, starting to edge cautiously back.

"Does seem like it's hurting you a bit though, bud," Magnus pointed out, drawing their attention to the blistering skin radiating from where the Gauntlet touched him.

"That doesn't matter," Gundren said, and was immediately engulfed in flame. He started to float above the ground.

Merle hesitantly reached toward him. "Hey, cousin, maybe you wanna--"

"It is MINE!" Gundren roared. "And I am gonna use it to finally get rid of all those god damned  _orcs."_

_"Wait--!"_ Merle shouted. It wasn't enough: Gundren was gone.

Barry clutched the Umbra Staff against his chest and shook, torn with indecision. Let Lup out so she could help them? Follow Gundren and help Lup later? What if Taako showed up? What if he  _didn't?_  Was Taako who the bugbear meant, or someone else? What should he do? What would  _Lup_ do?

"Gundren!" Merle cried, already in pursuit, arm stretched out as though he could catch his magical flying family--

Wait, how was Gundren related to Merle? They weren't even from here. How had Lucretia--

"I'm coming too!" Magnus shouted, rushing after him with Railsplitter already brandished. "I'm not about to let an orc racist loose with a super powerful magic fire thing."

"Uh," Barry stammered, stumbling after them. "Wait, I don't think attacking him is gonna-- Guys, guys! We have to try and talk him down," he shouted. "That gauntlet gives him the power of basically a god, and it corrupts whoever wields it!  _Guys!"_

They raced passed a broken caravan. Magnus hesitated, clearly wanting to pause and help.

"No time," Barry panted. He hooked an arm through Magnus's and pulled. "Come on, we have to stop him, he's probably nearly at Phandalin by now!"

Not nearly: Gundren was already there, inside the bar terrorizing people. They tried to talk him down, Merle and Magnus and Barry, doing their best to make him take off the Gauntlet. It nearly, nearly worked. Gundren landed, and the fire dissipated, and for just a moment everything was going their way.

Then Gundren staggered forward from an unseen impact, choking on a bloody breath as he tried to steady himself. His eyes went white-hot with fire and rage. His whole body lit like a torch.

"Aw shit," Magnus said.

They ran.

Phandalin burned.

When they crawled back out of the well, all that was left of the town was a perfectly uniform black glass circle. The remains of Gundren sat in the middle, nothing but burnt bones and the Gauntlet.

And Taako. Wrapped in a gorgeous short black coat and wicked heels, bedazzled ears to wrists with precious metals and gems, he looked familiar and foreign, beautiful and deadly. 

He walked up to Gundren's corpse, satisfied half-smile on his face, long braid swaying behind him.

"No," Barry croaked. "Taako, you can't--"

Taako picked up the gauntlet. He held it up as though to admire it, gently blowing off Gundren's ashes. "Nice," he said. "That'll do, dwarf."

"Are we fighting this guy next?" Magnus muttered to Barry where they were all three clustered by the well. "He looks pretty fancy, probably doesn't have that many hit points."

"No," Barry said with a swallow. "That'd, uh. That'd be a death sentence."

"Hey!" Merle shouted. "You killed my cousin!"

One of Taako's ears flicked toward them. He didn't lift his eyes from the Gauntlet as he continued to buff it clean. "Eh, he pretty much killed himself, homie. There's no real surviving this thing, y'dig?"

"Then maybe you shouldn't take it," Magnus pointed out.

"We had him calmed down!" Merle insisted. "He was going to take it off until  _you_ did...whatever that was!"

"It's called magic, buddy." Taako made an absentminded finger-gun at Merle. "Get you some."

"I cast," Merle said, leaping up, "Zone of Truth!"

Taako blinked when the spell washed over him, finally turning to look over at them. He blinked again, then burst into wild laughter, spine bowing back with the force of it, arms crossed over his stomach, one hand still holding the Gauntlet. "Oh man!" he cackled. "Oh man, I can't believe you just did that! You are  _hilarious,_ short stuff! That feels like it's barely above a cantrip, what are you, level one? Ah-ha-ha, Taako really needed that, wow." He wiped a tear from his eye, still giggling. "Okay, cleric, you get a free one for that, whew. One question!" He snapped impatiently. "Make it good."

"Taako," Barry said, "what are you--"

"Uh-uh," Taako interrupted without looking at him. "Not talking to you, fella. The dwarf has the question."

"No, I, uh." Merle looked between the two of them nervously, then jerked his head at Barry. "I give my question to him. He can have it. Y'all seem to know each other already, so..."

"Yeah, about that." Taako turned to Barry, eyes sharp and threatening. "How is it you know ch'boy's name? Your face doesn't ring any bells."

"Taako, you have to listen to me," Barry said, finally getting to his feet, Lup's Umbra Staff held tight against his chest. "You  _know_ me, Taako, you just don't remember. None of you do, but we--we're  _family,_ Taako, I--"

"Not hearing a question in all this, fella," Taako said, cocking his hip. "Taako's heading real fast toward bored, too, and believe me, you won't like that. That won't be fun for anybody but me." He twisted his free hand in a  _hurry up_  motion. "Get on with it."

"Why are you collecting the Relics?" Barry asked.

Taako's eyes flared with shock that lifted his ears high. "Now how did you hear about that?" he asked, taking a step forward.

"Uh," Magnus said, sharing a look with Merle. "The...what?"

"Beats me," Merle said. "All I got was static."

"I know about more than just that," Barry insisted. "I know you think you grew up alone, passed around from elf to elf until you just gave up and ran away. But you weren't alone, Taako. I'm in a Zone of Truth, I can't lie to you. You weren't alone."

"Fuck you," Taako said, low and dark. "You don't know shit about me."

"Yes, yes I do, Taako" Barry said, bracing himself against the well as Taako began pacing toward him. "I know about the Gauntlet, and I know about the Relics, and I know about  _you."_

"I am going to turn you back into the dust you are," Taako growled, gathering power in his free hand. Then he stumbled, eyes widening, and gripped the front of his coat, just above his heart. No, not the coat.

Something underneath it. The pendant, maybe, or whatever else was attached to that fine silver chain?

"Taako," Barry said, reaching forward, worried for this elf who was still a brother to him, lost as he was.

"Step closer and I'll vaporize you," Taako snapped. He straightened with a toss of his hair, back to calm and smiling in that disconcerting way, nearly familiar, twisted all the same. "Later, losers!"

And then Taako was gone.

He didn't...Blink, or teleport, or anything Barry could see. He was just--

Gone.

What in Faerun had the power to do that?

"This is bad," Barry said, numb down to his toes as he hugged Lup close. "This is very, very bad."

"I think we could take him," Magnus said, laying a steadying hand on Barry's shoulder. "I mean, he couldn't even walk over here without stumbling, his dex must be shit. Next time we see him." He bumped his fist on Barry's arm. "We'll get him for sure."

"No, he--" Barry run a shaking hand over his face. "Taako doesn't stumble, Magnus, he's a freaking  _flip wizard._ Come on." He shouldered the Umbra Staff and sent Lucretia a message asking for pickup. "We've gotta get back and talk about this. I'll inoculate you as soon as we get there. This is so, so very bad."

"Wait," Magnus said, "what? You'll what?" 

"We're going  _where?"_ Merle agreed.

A large sphere landed behind Barry, glass with solid metal trimming around it.

Barry gestured at it. "To the moon."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [ pplaaaay with mmmeeeee ](http://distractedkat.tumblr.com)


	3. The Oculus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I BACK. /finalpam
> 
> Today we round out our party with Davenport and Lup, feat. Angus. Gettin' the band back together!
> 
> I feel like I should have more stuff to say but I'm posting this from work so technically I could get in trouble at ANY. MOME

Davenport came back to himself with a gasp. There was a disgusting taste in his mouth, voidfish gunk the Director had made him drink. Someone else was making gagging sounds in the room, a dwarf and a tall, rugged human, while another human watched over them worriedly-- 

Merle. Magnus. Barry. 

Barry was yelling at someone. 

"You turned him into a  _doll_ , Lucretia! Maybe the others had some kind of life, but the  _captain?_  You made him your  _butler?_ What were you thinking!" 

"I never intended for him to lose so much of himself, Barry. Do you think I wanted this? It was only temporary--" 

"It's been  _years!_ How could you just let him  _stay like this!_ " 

"I needed a little more time!" 

Lucretia. 

After names, faces, a sense of who these people were to him, Davenport began to get back the missing pieces of himself. As the memories tumbled back into place, so did emotions. 

The first he felt was rage. 

"Lucretia," he said, doubled over on his knees, sucking in desperate, furious breaths. "What did you do?" 

"Davenport," Lucretia said, sounding desperate, "I had to--" 

"What," he shouted, "did you  _do!"_ A hand touched his back, trying to lend support, and he batted it away with a growl. He looked up, and it was Barry, face twisted in misery, a familiar umbrella tucked under his arm. A new emotion broke through the wrath: relief. "Oh," he breathed. "You found her. I knew you would. Well done, Barry." 

Barry sobbed a laugh. "Thanks, Cap'nport. It sure took me long enough." 

Davenport narrowed his eyes at Lucretia. "Apparently you had some interference." 

"Oh my god," Magnus said from the ground not far from them where he'd collapsed. His eyes were saucers of shock, seeing something not in the room, one hand pressed hard over his mouth. "Fuck.  _Shit_. Oh my god." 

"What?" Davenport demanded, trying to get up and go over to him with a century of memories still unsettled in his mind. He staggered, listed sideways, and would have fallen if Merle hadn't scooted closer to catch him. "What is it, Magnus? Are you hurt?" 

Magnus dragged his horrified gaze up to meet Davenport's concern. "Taako," he breathed. Tears shone in his eyes. "That whole town. Taako would never--" He swallowed hard, turning to Lucretia. "What happened to him? Why is he alone? Why is he--" Magnus shuddered. "Why is he  _like that?"_  

"Like what?" Davenport asked, trying to catch Magnus's eye but turning to Merle in frustration when his Head of Security wouldn't look at him. 

"We, uh." Merle swallowed hard, looking like he was in pain. "We didn't know it at the time, but Taako, he was, uh. He was after the Gauntlet too." 

Davenport frowned. "What, for Lup?" He immediately shook his head. "No, we forgot Lup, we-- Wait." When he looked up at Lucretia, she was already braced for the anger she had to know was coming. "You left Taako-- _Taako_ _\--alone_ down there? Without anybody else with him?" 

"It wasn't forever," Lucretia swore. "I just had to--" 

"Lucretia! You know how he gets when he doesn't have someone else with him!" 

"He had other people," Lucretia said, all but begging him to understand her choice. "I set him up with his own show, a traveling cooking show, so people could finally see him the way we all do. It was inevitable that people would love him, he always draws people in--" 

"What protections did you set up for him?" Magnus asked. "Taako's got a gift for trouble, and it's not just good people drawn to him. You remember? He had that whole cult back on, like, eight or nine? Remember? And we said we'd take better care of him after that, remember? Lucy, please,  _please,_ tell me you didn't just set him up for stardom and leave him unguarded. Tell me you left one of your people with him." 

"It wasn't forever," she said, beginning to look uncertain for the first time. "He had...he'd already picked up an assistant the last time I saw him. Sazed. He was, he was cared for. Adored. Already had a year's worth of shows lined up. Come on, guys, Taako was fine--" 

"He's the reason Phandalin is gone now," Merle said, gripping Davenport's shoulder with thoughtless worry. "He killed my cousin, my--" Merle shook his head, brow furrowed. "Damn," he grunted, touching his forehead with his free hand. "That's gonna take some..." He blinked his eyes back open, focusing on Davenport and then Lucretia. His expression went soft, forgiving and sad the way only Merle ever managed. "Aw, Luce. It's been tough up here alone, huh? Honey, I know you didn't mean it, but it's been tough down there too. Without who I was, the guy I ended up bein' was kind of a jerk. Like turnin' back into a man I used to be lifetimes ago." He shook his head. "But Taako, he never lived without a piece of him that suddenly wasn't there anymore. That's gonna mess a fella up. He killed Gundren, Lucy. Killed him and took the Gauntlet, right before we talked him down. It coulda ended peaceful, and it didn't, because somethin's wrong with Taako, somethin' that goes deep." 

Lucretia shook her head, as though that could change anything. "I didn't mean," she began. 

Davenport stood up. "Look, Lucretia, it doesn't really matter what you meant, okay? This is how things are. We gotta go." 

Everyone in the room turned to him, each in a different type of shock. "Go?" Magnus echoed, a strange kind of loss in his face. "I can't-- Davenport, I can't just  _go._ There are things here I can't leave." 

"We don't have a choice," Davenport insisted. "We tried breaking up the Light, and it failed. Lucretia tried her thing, and that's failing too. Taako's got two of the seven Relics, and we have no way of knowing how close he is to the others. It's only a matter of time until there's enough of the Light for the Hunger to find, and we can't be here when that happens." 

"So we leave?" Lucretia demanded. "We just abandon Taako and this world and try again some other time?" 

"We  _don't,"_ Davenport snapped, "have a  _choice."_  

"I got kids, Cap'n," Merle said, soft and low as the sea at night. Davenport shut his eyes. "There's always another choice. Always." 

"We have to at least try," Barry said. He shook his head when Davenport shot a frustrated look at him. "Maybe we fail. Maybe at the end, we take the Starblaster and leave. But we have to  _try."_  

"We'll never get Taako to stop if we don't know why he started," Davenport sighed. "In a full-on confrontation, there's only a few of us who could have matched him spell-for-spell when we landed here, and we don't know what he's learned since. Plus, he won't be pulling blows the way we will. Head-on, unprepared, not knowing what he's doing or why? He'll grind us into the ground. And then what? We let him live with that?" 

"It won't come to that," Barry swore. 

Davenport dragged a hand down his face. "How can you  _know_ that, Bare?" 

"Because I," he said, holding the Umbra Staff out, "have a secret weapon. Sorry, babe," he added as an afterthought. Then he brought the Staff down over his knee, splitting it cleanly in half. A cloud of red smoke poured from the broken masterwork, writhing in the center of the room. Fireworks burst within the fiery mass, wild orange and yellow and pink flares, filling the room with white hot light. It exploded out, shooting up as high as it could toward the ceiling before doubling back on itself in a swirl of power. All the heat and force of the explosion wove masterfully around them, leaving the ragtag crew of the Starblaster completely unharmed. 

When the light faded, the cloud and fire and fireworks were gone, and hovering where they once shone was Lup, phantasmal and resplendent, her outstretched palms still coated in flame. 

"Where," she said, fury and fear hot in her voice, "is my  _brother?"_  

Lucretia bowed her head. "I don't know," she said. "I...meant for him to be safe. Something happened." 

"We've seen him a few times," Barry said, stepping forward with one hand raised. "Something's definitely wrong. We need you, Lup." 

"Well  _duh,"_ Lup said, turning off her fire so she could make a motion like she was flipping her hair over one shoulder. "If you wanna find Taako, you need  _the_ Taako expert. Hi, babe," she added, floating down to Barry to hover her forehead over his, just shy of a touch. "Miss me?" 

"Lup," he breathed, reaching up to touch her even knowing his hands would slide through. "I looked for you, I looked--I looked  _everywhere_ for you. When I was a lich and I knew you were gone, it was more than I could bear. And when I was alive and I didn't know you it was--it was still  _more_ than I could  _bear,_ I--" 

"Babe," Lup murmured, ghosting her hands over him, "you know I love you. And I wanna hear everything you have to say. But Cap'nport's ready to blow this joint without even a fight, which would be a bummer for some kids Merle apparently has, and my stupid baby brother is out there somewhere doing some really messed up stuff, and I don't have a body. Let's table this catch-up just for a bit, okay?" 

"Okay," Barry sobbed, then took a deep, shaking breath to try and pull himself together. "Taako's only twelve minutes younger than you." 

"It's an important twelve minutes, and you both know that. Now, first thing's first." She drew a spectral finger down his nose. "Can you cook me up a hot bod to match yours, or do I gotta go shopping for something a little more off-the-rack?" 

"I got you covered," he promised with another laugh. "We're lucky you kissed that note, it left behind enough genetic material to get started. It'll still take a few months, though." 

"Excellent." She turned to the others, then specifically to Davenport. "Now, we've done some stuff to this world that wasn't fair, and we didn't want it but it happened. I think it'd be bad form of us to cut and run before we've really tried to fix it, don't you?" 

Davenport sighed heavily through his nose. "We don't even know where the other Relics  _are,"_  he pointed out. 

Lup shifted her gaze to Lucretia. "Luce?" she prompted. "You know anything about that?" 

Lucretia hesitated before nodding. "Yes." Then she shook her head. "Well, no, not yet. But I will, soon. I have teams of people," she explained. "They look into strange occurrences or rumors, trying to locate Relics. A few of them have some promising leads. Brian, especially, I was able to pull him off the--" She folded her hands to gather her thoughts. "They should know where one is fairly soon." 

"How soon?" Magnus asked. "Like, a few days, or...?" 

"A few weeks," Lucretia guessed. "I'm not sure." 

"Too soon for me to get a body," Lup sighed. "Probably better to get started with or without one, though. What do you say?" she asked Davenport. "Come with us. Help us reclaim the Relics, save this world, find a way to stop the Hunger. If we absolutely can't, we'll leave. Just help us  _try."_  

"This is madness," Davenport told them. "Nothing we've ever tried has worked. But," he added when they all started to object at once, lifting a hand for silence, "there's nothing else for me to do until the Hunger gets here, so fine. I'll  _try_ to help with this...insanity.  _Only,"_  he stressed, "until the Hunger gets here." 

Merle tugged him into a crushing hug. "Thank you," he said, low and honest. 

"Don't thank me yet," Davenport said, resting a hand on his back. "There's still a lot of work to do." He looked them over, his crew, all nodding and sure. When he got to Lucretia, he gave her a warning frown. "No more secrets," he said. "No more making decisions like this for all us. We're a family, we're going to fucking act like it." 

She nodded. 

Davenport jerked a thumb back toward the baby voidfish. "And put that thing back in with its parent before Magnus breaks a tear duct!" 

 

They found, of all things, the Oculus. Because didn't that just figure. One of Lucretia's boys, Leeman Kessler, got murdered after loading it on some fancy train. And of course, they couldn't just take it off again, oh no. That was strictly against regulation. So here they were, boarding the Rockport Limited, Davenport playing the part of Kessler with Magnus and Merle as his bodyguards. Lucretia was keeping things running up top, looking for whichever Relic came after this one, while Barry worked on Lup's new body. 

Lup, incorporeal and invisible and currently floating just behind Magnus, kept trying to blow their cover with her best impersonation of a poltergeist. "It'll keep these guys distracted," she told them, using a quick spell to knock over a tower of luggage on the platform.  

"Just keep a low profile," Davenport muttered as station staff scurried over to rescue the luggage, "and we won't  _need_  a distraction."  

"Stick with the plan," Merle agreed in the worst Scottish accent any of them had ever heard. "We can't get to the...item. In the, y'know. Storage." He nudged Davenport in the side. "But neither can anyone else. All we gotta do is keep it that way, and everything'll be a-okay." 

But of course, they were the crew of the IPRE, people who had set out to explore the planar system and ended up running from asshole nihilism personified for the next hundred years.  

Nothing went like it was supposed to. 

They were besieged by a tall, pompous elf in a fantastic bow-tie who tried to offer them luxury services  _while_ condescending to them. Merle and Magnus, apparently unable to help themselves, instantly began harassing the elf--Jenkins--refusing to let him find his footing with them. Jenkins tried to persevere, telling them about his pleasure chamber, and that was when Davenport and Lup joined in the fun. Eventually Jenkins gave up, going to tend to the other passengers, and they got a look around. 

"We should introduce ourselves," Lup said. The sensation of her presence began drifting further into the cabin. 

"To what end?" Davenport asked. "We're here to make sure nobody messes with our cargo. Nobody else here matters." 

"Aww, come on, Cap'nport. I haven't met anybody new in, like, a decade. Live a little!" 

"Yeah," Magnus agreed immediately, "it'll be fun!" 

"And if anything goes wrong," Merle added, "we'll have a head-start on suspects!" 

Davenport signed. 

There were five other people, besides themselves and Jenkins, on board. Hudson, the sequestered engineer, wouldn't talk to them beyond the basics. Jess the Beheader was slightly more entertaining. After speaking with Graham, a hedge wizard, Magnus and Lup immediately began taking bets on which of them could get him to tip over the edge.  

"Which edge?" Merle asked, even as Davenport was pretending hard not to pay attention. 

"Any," they chimed in response. 

Davenport sighed again but got in on the action. 

Their last two fellow passengers were clustered together. The first was a small, fancy boy, sitting in one of the corner booths in the dining car, holding a book but not reading it. The final passenger was an elf, all curled up like a cat, one arm stretched along the back of the booth, looking over the child's shoulder with a teasing smile. The elf seemed to sense them in the doorway and looked up. 

Taako. 

_Shit._  

His gaze moved right over Davenport, an easy dismissal. (An eventual mistake.) When he looked at Magnus and Merle, his smile shifted to smirk. He ran the thumb of his free hand across his throat as though scratching an itch, then curved it along the bottom of his left eye. But of course, he wasn't itchy. He was warning them. 

The boy was his hostage. Taako would kill him if they took the Oculus, safe in the cargo hold. 

"Whoa," Magnus breathed. "We've been here five minutes and we're already totally boned." 

"Regroup," Davenport ordered, turning to usher them toward the cabin reserved for Kessler. Merle and Lup followed him, but Magnus rushed forward. 

He stuck his hand out at the kid for a shake. "Hi," he said, "I'm--" All at once he seemed to remember they were supposed to be undercover. "...Frenchalor." 

The boy and Taako both stared at him. Davenport resisted the urge to smack a hand over his own face. Merle seemed proud of his recovery, but Lup's impression felt like it was quivering with repressed hilarity. 

Taako broke first though, hiding a laugh in his free hand while the one behind the boy curled forward to brush his hat. 

"I'm Angus McDonald," the boy said, taking Magnus's hand. "It's very nice to meet you, sir." 

Magnus turned expectantly to Taako. 

The elf rolled his eyes, then sat up to shake hands. His heels made a sharp  _click_ as they settled on the floor. "Taako," he said, dry as the desert. 

Magnus sat with them in the booth, ignoring Taako's annoyed look. "Are you two traveling to Neverwinter together?" 

Davenport finally gave in, leading what remained of his crew to one of the open booths right behind Magnus, Taako, and the boy. 

"Oh, no sir," Angus said, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "We met on the train. I'm on my way to visit my grandpa." He looked over Magnus's shoulder to lock eyes with Davenport, expression so calm and serious it ratcheted Davenport's concern for him up a solid five or six notches. "Mr. Taako said this is his favorite way to make new friends, and I thought that sounded like an okay idea." 

Apparently the boy knew he was in trouble, then. Interesting. 

"You're a clever little pumpkin," Taako hummed, smiling lazily at Angus.  

The boy smiled back at him, warm as any child would be. "That's funny you say so, Mr. Taako, a lot of my friends back in Rockport think so too." 

"Aw." He crossed his legs to tap his boot against Angus's shoe. "Well, we'll make sure you get to Neverwinter and back safe and sound then." He turned his smile on Magnus, then Merle, then finally to Davenport. "Won't we." 

"That's a promise I can make," Magnus said, voice abruptly dropping from friendly to serious. "Taako, listen, I know you don't--" 

Davenport got up from his seat with enough force to rattle the table. "Let's go," he said to Merle and Lup but meaning Magnus too. "We should find our compartment before it gets too late." 

"Buh-bye,  _Frenchalor_ ," Taako called after them. 

"It was very nice meeting you," Angus added. "Maybe we can meet again later to play a game!" 

"Ah, Ango, I'm sure they've got other things to do, but your old pal Taako's always ready to trounce somebody at board games." 

"All I have is a deck of cards." 

"Even better!" 

 

In their compartment, Magnus leaned back against the door with a heavy sigh, rubbing his forehead. "We can't let Taako kill a kid," he said, low and helpless. "We can't let him have the Oculus either. Cap'nport, what do we--" 

"He won't kill a  _kid,"_  Lup insisted, switching back to a visible spectrum in the safety of their room. "Come on! He might threaten the guy a bit, but he'd never--" 

"We don't know what happened to him," Davenport pointed out. "Depending on what it is, Lup, yeah, he might." 

"He wouldn't," she insisted, stubborn and sure. "I know my brother." 

"I know he wouldn't in his right might," Merle said, setting a comforting hand right above Lup's elbow. "But we gotta deal with what's in front of us, okay, Lup? Let's just deal with this like we would if he was anybody else. We gotta get the boy, we gotta protect the Oculus, never mind who we're gettin' from or protectin' against." He gestured to the others. "So how do we do that?" 

They had no idea. And if that wasn't bad enough, somebody went and murdered Jenkins. 

"Not it," Taako said, looking at the corpse over Angus's shoulder. "That head and hand business is kind of overkill, huh?" He patted Angus's hat. "You're doing a good job not freaking out." 

"Well," Angus began, straightening with a determined expression. "Actually, that's because I--" 

He was interrupted by a giant fiery crab monster, which dropped from the ceiling to attack them, destroying the crime scene in the process. 

Taako leapt back, wrapping an arm around Angus's waist to carry him along. "Also not it!" he called. He did not set Angus back on his feet, even when the little boy protested. "You dudes got this?" 

Magnus reached for Railsplitter then cursed. "Maybe!" he shouted, dodging the crab's first attack. 

Lup shimmered into view behind the crab. "No sweat, bro! Fire's kind of my thang." She proved her point by blasting the crab right out one of the nearest windows, taking a section of seats, the window, and a chunk of the train's exterior with it. "...Oops." 

Davenport pinched the bridge of his nose. 

"You have a lich?" Taako demanded, cocking one hip to plant a hand on it and still not putting Angus down, forcing the boy to hang across the arm looped around his middle. "That's cheating. Ch'boy's only got himself. Also don't call me bro, you sound like a douchebag." 

"Sir," Angus said, "if you put me down, I think I can help solve this murder." 

Taako looked down at him, both eyebrows arched high. "...Pull the other one, my dude." 

Angus shook his head so hard his hat almost fell off. "Honest, sir! I'm the world's greatest detective, and it's no coincidence that I'm here on this train today. I'm on assignment. The Rockport City Council hired me to track down a serial killer called the Rockport Slayer." 

"Real original name there," Taako huffed. He hitched Angus higher when it looked like the boy was starting to slide out of his grasp. 

"I didn't name him, sir, I just have to catch him." Angus pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. "He’s been in business in Rockport for a few months now. He targets wealthy individuals and murders them to take their riches, but he never leaves a trace behind him. I think this might be his doing too, so if you'll let me down, I can get started on figuring out what exactly happened here before anyone else gets hurt." 

Taako hummed thoughtfully, looking down at Angus, then over at Davenport and his crew, then around to the other passengers who'd been drawn to the commotion. He drummed his fingers on his hip, worrying his bottom lip as he thought. 

"You're trying to keep a low-profile," Angus continued in the tone of someone trying to sweeten a deal. "A murder on your train isn't gonna do that for you, sir. But! If you let me solve it, everyone will be more interested in a small boy catching a bad murderer than on whatever it is you're here to do." 

"Like you don't know," Taako said with such an exaggerated roll of his eyes that his braid swung with it.  

"Not everything," Angus protested with a sweet smile for his captor. 

"Okay," Taako sighed, and set Angus down. He crouched so they were eye to eye, squinting at him. "But if you make me regret this by using it as a chance to escape, or fuck me over, or do literally anything other than solve the crime and stay my meatshield until I realize my goals, I will make  _you_ regret it for every remaining second of your suddenly short life. Get it?" 

"Got it," Angus agreed, straightening his hat. He looked at the others, hands on his hips. "Now," he said, "how about we start with you? Your real names, your reasons for being here, why you're harboring a lich, and anything else that might clear you from this crime." 

" _Harboring?"_  Lup cried. "You chucklefucks should be  _thanking your lucky_ _stars_ that I--" 

"I think it was the lich," Taako told Angus, arms crossed, hip still cocked. "Liches do that kind of stuff, right? Murdering poor defenseless weirdo train guys who won't even burn a spell slot?"  

"Sir," Angus said with a disapproving frown, "when we first met, you introduced yourself and immediately began detailing how  _you_  planned on murdering Jenkins." 

"Well, yeah." Taako twisted one hand through the air in a dismissive gesture. "That's actually kind of my point? If Taako would, pretty sure a lich would." 

"How do we know you didn't?" one of the other passengers asked, the hedge wizard in the juicy pants. What was his name? 

Taako widened his eyes dramatically, an effect intensified by the contrast between the dark kohl lining and honey gold irises. Whatever else anyone said about Taako, he  _did_ strike an impressive figure. " _Moi?_ Pretty sure I'm accounted for, Juicy. I was with the boy detective the whole time. How could I possibly be in two places at once? Meanwhile, what about  _toi_ _?"_ He looked down at Angus again, giving him a little nudge. "Arrest him, Ango, pretty sure he's the one who did it." 

"Please let me do my job, sir," Angus insisted, taking a notebook and pen out of one of his many pockets. "I'll need to question each person individually. And sir," he continued, looking up at Taako, "I'm sure you understand that these interviews will need to be private." 

"Slick," Taako complimented him, "but not quite slick enough. I'm not letting you out of my sight, meatshield." 

"You'll compromise the integrity of my interviews," Angus protested. "I'm not going to leave this train without solving the crime, and as long as I stay on board, no matter where I go, I'm sure you're a strong enough wizard to capture me again." He tapped his pen against the notebook. "I really must insist. If you don't want to draw attention to yourself as a potential suspect, I need to conduct proper detective interviews." 

Taako blew out a long, frustrated breath. " _Fine,"_  he grumbled, then stabbed a finger in Angus's shoulder. "No funny business!" 

"Promise," Angus said with a firm nod. "I'll be in my sleeper compartment. You can stand just outside. That way, you're not close enough to hear, but you'll know if I try and get away." 

"Deal," Taako agreed. 

"I'd like to speak with you first, Mr. 'Kesssler'," Angus said, air quotes and all. 

And Davenport's opinion of Angus shot right through the roof. 

 

Once they were in Angus's cabin, the boy held a finger up to his mouth, digging through his satchel. He produced a ward, which he stuck on the door. Through the frosted glass, they could just see Taako, leaning against the opposite wall, absently filing his nails. The others were doubtlessly somewhere nearby; their boisterous chatter could be heard easily through the door. Once Angus got the ward up, though, the talk went muffled. 

Davenport felt his eyebrows pop up in interest. "Not bad," he said. 

Angus resettled his bag before taking a seat. "Thank you, sir. As a detective, I know it's better to be prepared for any eventuality. Now, I have a few questions for you, if you don't mind." 

"Sure." Davenport shrugged. "I'm not the killer though. I was with my crew the whole time, I think if that many people murdered one guy all together, it'd be hard to sneak out after." 

"I know," Angus said, "that's why I'm not here to ask you about the murder. I'm here to ask you about Taako." 

Davenport felt his expression go hard. "What about him?" 

Angus flipped his notebook open to check something he'd written earlier. "I think he might be in trouble," the boy said. 

"Be  _in_ trouble?" Davenport echoed incredulously. "Don't you mean he might  _be_ trouble?" 

"That too," Angus acknowledged, "but I've been held hostage before. It's part of the job, when you're the world's greatest detective and a little boy." 

Davenport tried to come up with a response and couldn't find one beyond, "Uh." 

"So what I'm saying is, I've had some experience with hostage takers." He pointed his pen toward the hallway, toward Taako. "His heart's not in it." 

"He calls you  _meatshield_ _."_  

"I think that's mostly a goof," Angus admitted. "Taako puts himself across as a real bad guy, but I've also noticed moments of genuine kindness, thoughtless acts that wouldn't exist if here were a stone cold evil alignment. He keeps my tea warm." 

Davenport crossed his arms. "So what do you want to know?" 

"Your group obviously knows him," Angus said, tipping his head toward the door. "But Taako doesn't share your familiarity. Why is that?" 

"Couldn't tell you even if I wanted to," Davenport signed, rubbing a hand over his hair. "It's...complicated." 

"I'll be satisfied if you just tell me what you can," Angus said, readying his pen over his paper. 

"Okay," Davenport agreed mildly. "I'm part of an organization that Lucretia is calling the Bureau of Balance. We're looking for the Grand Relics to put the Light of Creation back together before the Hunger gets here and consumes your planar system. I'm not feeling very optimistic about this, because Taako used to be part of my crew from the IPRE. He's powerful, and he's working against us, and he's already got twice the Relics we do. Honestly my interest in this murder situation is basically non-existent. I want to get my Oculus and go. But I can't do that, because Taako said he'd kill you, and at this point I'm not convinced he wouldn't do it. I've seen him do a lot of things other people thought he probably wouldn't, especially with Lup not around. You do you, though, kid." 

Angus sat back with a puzzled expression. "I didn't get a lot of that," he admitted. "But." He looked down at his notes. "Are you working for a secret organization in an attempt to save the world from impending doom by reuniting a set of untra-powerful objects to form an even more powerful object that an extra-planar force is coming to get? And you've done this before?" He looked up at Davenport. "And Taako used to help you?" 

Davenport felt his jaw drop open. "How across all Pan's mighty soil did you--" 

"I told you," Angus said, adjusting his cap. "I'm the world's greatest detective. Now, I don't know how Taako got separated from you, or what happened afterward, but he seems to be at war with himself, sometimes. There's an instinctive response, and then that gets overwritten by something else. He kind of...twitches." 

"Some of my crew reported seeing that," Davenport agreed with a nod. "There's a pendant he grabbed, too." 

"Yes, I've tried to make him show me." Angus shrugged. "He won't, yet. I think it's part of this." 

"Don't push him too hard," Davenport warned him. "Taako's got a bit of a temper, and I don't think having his brain messed with has helped that at all." 

"Of course not," Angus said with an offended expression. "He possibly the most powerful magic user I've ever met, and I might be a little boy but I'm no chump. I'm going to stay on his good side as long as I possibly can." 

"Smart," Davenport acknowledged. 

"Thank you, sir." Angus glanced down at his notes again. "Uh, anyway, for the sake of form, before I move on to the next suspect--" 

"Suspect?" Davenport echoed with a twitch of a smile. 

Angus flushed a little but kept going. "Do you think the item you're here to transport is valuable enough to attract the attention of the Rockport Slayer? And, if so, do you think it likely that the Slayer also killed the real Leeman Kessler?" 

Davenport sighed, long and slow. "Yeah," he said. "That'd make a lot of sense to me. Don't know how he knew it'd be here, but yeah. It's one of the most powerful artifacts on Faerun, kid, and we gotta get it out of here before it corrupts anyone else." 

For just a moment, Angus's eyes went wide behind his glasses. Then he nodded, firm and determined. "I understand, sir. Oh, wait, one more thing! What's your real name?" 

"Davenport," he said, sticking his hand out for a shake. "Nice working with you, Angus." 

Angus shook his hand with maybe a touch too much enthusiasm. "You too, sir." 

 

At Angus's request, Davenport sent Magnus in after him, then Merle, and even Lup. Once he had his crew back, Davenport did some investigating on his own, checking in with the engineer and other passengers before heading back toward that weird portal Jenkins had tried to convince them to use. He thought about the corpse, the fire crab that had destroyed it before they could properly investigate, the requirements to get at the items in the cargo hold, and realized-- 

"Ah, shit." 

"Jenkins," Lup agreed. 

Magnus looked up from an argument with Merle. "What?" 

Davenport began moving as quickly as possible toward the cargo hold. "That corpse wasn't Jenkins--" 

"It was Hudson," Angus agreed, meeting them in the hallway and joining their not-quite rush. "And Jenkins--" 

"Has his hands," Merle realized. "He can get at the--" He glanced down at Angus. "Well. The  _thing."_  

"He basically knows," Davenport said. 

"I figured he'd figure it out," Taako agreed. They got to the cargo hold and Taako blasted the door open with a flick of his hand and a ridiculously over-powered Knock. He zipped through the door first, skidding a little as he slid to a halt and began looking around. "Damn," he said, straightening with his hand on his hips. "Worse than I thought." 

"This isn't so bad," Merle reassured him, lifting a hand to give his hip a friendly pat until Taako speared him with a glare that could melt steel. "At least we beat Jenkins here." 

"We didn't," Taako said, stalking back out.  

"He used the portal wand on the door?" Magnus guessed, following Taako.  

"We have to get in another way," Lup said, floating over to the window. "How about I--" 

"You'll get blown away," Davenport said, looking out with her. Magnus and Merle clustered beside him. 

"Hey," Magnus said, "Taako, you know Levitate, right?" 

"How did you know--" Taako demanded. 

"You could cast it on me, and then if we have any rope I could kind of float along the side, get in the back, fight him to the real door, and let everybody in!" 

"Now, I'm not saying it's  _the_ stupidest idea I've ever heard," Lup began, "because it's been a hot minutes since we first met. But--" 

"Hold this for me," he heard Taako say, "okay, pumpkin? If it's damaged at all when I get back, I will skin you alive over a period of days during which I feed you to yourself. Got it?" 

"Uh," said Angus. 

Davenport turned to find Taako shrugging off his black coat. Underneath, he wore a skintight black one-piece outfit with long sleeves and short-shorts, a high neckline but plunging almost inappropriately down the back, an opening laced together with glittering silver chains.  

"Are you wearing a  _romper?"_  Lup demanded. "Who even are you!" 

Taako dumped his coat on Angus's head and started walking toward one of the free windows. " _Ch,_ like you know anything about fashion in  _that_ robe." He pushed the window open and stuck his head out to look up toward the roof. "You chucklefucks better be ready when I get that door open," he more accused than said. "If I get hurt because you roll shitty initiative and that spell slot-hoarding asswipe gets a free shot at me, you're all on the vore tour, get me?" 

"What are you doing?" Angus cried, rushing toward him just as Taako began hauling himself out the window. 

"Don't worry, small fry." Taako smirked at him. "I'm a motherfucking flip wizard." He gathered himself on those ridiculous, impracticable shoes, and then flipped backwards onto the roof. They heard him land, then heard something much bigger pounding toward him. 

"Shit," Magnus cursed, already fumbling with some rope. "I gotta get up there and help him--" 

"You don't have Railsplitter," Merle said, touching his hand to try and stop his frantic motions. 

"I have to at least try! He's our  _friend,_ Merle!" 

Lup poked her head up through the roof of the train just before a heart-stopping boom shook the car. She came back down. "There was a thing," she said, "and he  _vaporized_ it. I think we're gonna be okay." 

It took less than five minutes for Taako to get the door open. He immediately started tossing weapons to them, some that actually belonged to them and others that just happened to be there. Magnus got his hands on Railsplitter, grinned like a wolf, and rushed in. 

Taako let him, preferring to get his coat back from Angus while the others fought. Davenport followed his lead, settling comfortably in one of the nearby chairs. "Never flip wizard in loose clothing," Taako told Angus as he redid the buttons, shaking his arms so the sleeves would lay properly. "It'll get in the way and get you murdered real quick." 

"It's not exactly long enough to trip on," Davenport observed wryly. 

"Yeah but check this shit out." Taako lifted his arms and twisted his hips to make the coat's flaring skirt twirl. "You can't even begin to imagine all the things this'll get caught in." 

"That sounds like a good tip, sir," Angus said. "I'll be sure to keep it in mind the next time I'm flip...wizarding." He nodded toward the pendant hanging against Taako's check. "What's that stone? I don't think I've seen it before." 

Davenport hadn't, either. It looked like obsidian but shone like a diamond. It had cracks throughout, each filled with red so bright it seemed to glow, bright like ruby, deep like garnet. Lucretia might know, or maybe Barry. Davenport didn't think any of the crew with him would have seen a stone like that before either, even with all the worlds they'd traveled. Beach dwarves like Merle had notoriously poor stone sense. 

Taako tucked the stone on its thin, gleaming chain back into his coat. "Don't ask again," he said. One ear flicked back toward the cargo hold. "Sounds like they've about wrapped it up in there. Let's go check the goods." 

Angus glanced back at him, and Davenport shared a deep, meaningful look, then followed him. 

Jenkins was gone. A monster of some kind was dissolving near the safe, which had been opened. The entire back wall of the train had been blown clear off. All the precious cargo of every passenger was scattered on the bottom of the safe, knocked free during the fight, including-- 

It seemed to Davenport that they all saw the Oculus at the same time. Taako reached out to lay a hand along Angus's shoulders, right on his spine. He smiled at them all. 

"Uh, so," a new voice began. They all looked back to find Jess the Beheader leaning into the car. That juicy wizard stood behind her, looking panicked. "Seems like we're about five minutes from smashing straight into Neverwinter at full speed and dying an ugly death, and our engineer is dead. Anybody got a plan?" 

"Ah, nuts," Merle said. He turned to the others. "Any ideas?" 

Lup produced Jenkin's wand. "Maybe one," she said. 

 

Strangely, against all reasonable odds: It worked. They shoved all the valuables into a Bag of Holding the Juicy Wizard had then leapt off one at a time. Except for Taako, who picked Angus up again before casting Levitate on himself and stepping gracefully off the back. Once she was alone, Lup--the least likely of them all to be hurt by this madness--cast the spell to send the whole Pan damned train barreling directly into Jenkin's garden. Lup flew off the back just in time, throwing both hands in the air as the portal closed behind the enormous mess they'd made. 

"Wait until I tell Barry about  _this!"_ she cried, then whipped around to scan the crowd. "Taako! Babe, did you  _see that?"_  

"Cool job," Taako said, his hand resting just at the back of Angus's neck again. "You're pretty rad. Also, don't call me babe, 'kay?" He looked over at Merle, clutching the Bag of Holding with a complicated, sad expression. 

"You sure you want it?" he asked softly. "It's not gonna help you, kid. This thing, it just Tcauses pain everywhere it goes." 

"Thanks, Gramps," Taako said, smile unchanging. "Not really looking for a sermon though. You gonna give me that thing easy or what?" 

"Bro," Lup said, nearly begging, "come on, Taako, talk to me. What's going on? Why do you need it? We can help you, we're your family!" 

"I don't have a family," Taako said, not taking his eyes off Merle. "Do it, cleric." 

Davenport nudged Merle aside to reach into the Bag. He dug around until he found it, the Oculus, calling to him and every single other person within reach. It was a good call, tempting, but not enough. 

He held it out to Taako. "It won't make you happy." 

"Nobody said this was about happiness, my dude." He held his free hand out flat. Davenport tossed the Oculus. Jess the Beheader lunged for it, not even seeming to realize what she was doing. Magnus blocked her, and Taako caught the Relic. 

His long fingers curled around it as he gave Angus a firm shove. "Good choice." 

"Come on, Taako," Magnus said. "We worked together pretty good just now, right? We could do that again." 

"My dude," Taako said while tucking the Oculus into his coat, "we were working parallel at  _best_. Don't get in Taako's way." He twinkled his fingers in a wave and was gone again in a rush of power that was nothing like any teleportation or Blink spell Davenport had ever felt. 

"Well," Magnus said. "This is bad." 

"Taako has three Relics," Lup said, counting points off on her fingers while Davenport called for a ride back to base. "We have  _one,_ which we got via already having it. We've beaten him to literally none of them. My brother's acting like a super villain and we don't know why. If it comes to a fight, we're gonna have to pull our punches and he  _is not_ going to do that." She lifted her hands in a shrug. " _Bad_ is a bit of an understatement, bud." 

"Maybe worst of all," Merle added. "Whatever terrible things he does to get the rest of the Relics? Whatever he did before we found him? Whether we leave this plane or save it, once we get him back, he's gonna have to live with that." 

"It seems to me," Angus said, resettling his bag across his shoulders, "that your first step here is to beat Taako to the rest of these objects." 

"Gotta find 'em first," Magnus sighed. 

Angus dug a small business card out of his pocket. "As it happens, sir." He handed it to Davenport. "Finding lost things is one of my specialties." 

Davenport looked at the card, looked at Angus, face set and serious. 

And he made a call.


	4. The Gaia Sash

"Can you imagine how much easier this would have been if we could have killed that one guard," Magnus said on their way back to Hurley's garage.

"Yeah, maybe," Lup agreed, using her brand new body to swing a bag with the stolen Arcane Core in it. "But then we'd be the sort of people who killed guards for expediency's sake. Not really our style."

"Fair enough," Magnus said.

"Yeah we're definitely more the--" Merle did a complicated series of hand gestures to encapsulate, through dance, the last half hour of their lives. "--blow up a bunch of stuff and free a bugbear who once wanted to kill us and steal not only a powerful battery thing but also a bunch of uniforms and hats and personal effects of rival gang. Oh, and have Lup melt their battle wagon, that too."

"Totally awesome," Lup agreed, wiggling her hands in a shortish imitation of Merle's dance. "Got the prize, reduced the competition. We're one step closer to freeing Sloane." She held her hand up for a high-five from Magnus. He slapped it hard, grinning widely.

Lup had always been a bit more touchy-feely than her brother, but since she'd gotten her body back she'd been downright aggressive with her physical affection. Merle didn't mind; in fact, he encouraged it, looked forward to Lup's endless hugs and pats, and enjoyed how receptive she was to their reaching out for her, too.

He wondered how Taako'd be, when they got him back.

Hurley was waiting for them at the garage. Once they gave her the Core, she gave them masks: a bear for Magnus, an owl for Merle, and a mongoose for Lup.

She stared at the mongoose a long time, stroking the fur on its forehead, lost so deep in thought she didn't hear the first few times Merle called for her. When she looked over, tears stood bright in her eyes.

Merle touched her arm. "Like this, he's kinda with you, huh? The spirit of him."

"You can speak mongoose to us if it'll make you feel better," Magnus said, already pulling on the bear mask.

Lup laughed wetly. "Nah," she said. "I'll save that for him, if we see him during the race."

"Ugh," Magnus said. "Just what we  _don't_ need. No offence," he added quickly. "He just. He's been kicking our ass, y'know? I'd like to get at least  _one_ of these without having to fight him for it."

"I get it," Lup sighed. She pulled her mask close to her chest. "...It's nice seeing him, is all. Even in bad circumstances. I miss the dingus."

"I'm sure he misses you too," Merle said, "somewhere deep down."

"Yeah as long as he's missing you somewhere not here," Magnus said.

"Who're you talking about?" Hurley asked from across the room where she was still working on her battle wagon. "Anybody I need to be looking out for?"

"No," Lup said. "He's... No. Let's just focus on the race."

Hurley looked up with a skeptical expression. "You're sure?"

"Yeah," Merle said, setting his mask back in its box to keep it safe until the morning. "He won't be a problem."

"I feel jinxed now," Hurley admitted.

"Nah," Merle said. "There's no need for that. Pan's got our back."

"If you're sure."

"I am."

Hurley nodded. "Good enough for me. Get a good night's sleep, crew. Race starts first thing tomorrow."

"Aw, yeah," Magus crowed, pumping one fist in the air, still wearing his mask. "This is gonna be great!"

"It sure is, buddy," Merle agreed.

And it was.

For almost twenty full minutes.

In that time, they fought a velociraptor gerblin bobsled, a hamster wheel of gerbil dwarves that crushed a couple of laughing dolphins, and an octopus gumball machine that  _really_ sucked. 

Now they were splitting their attention between a giant armored boar pulling a chariot and a shipping crate that just turned into a flatbed of crickets. Magnus was on the boar wagon, wrestling with one of the drivers. Lup was gearing up a fireball.

"I'm gonna throw it at the boar!" she shouted. "We'll worry about the crickets next!"

That was moment when Taako rode up. He was on a spectral binicorn, sleek and black with double horns that shone like the rainbows on an oil slick. Garyl.

What had he done to Garyl?

Taako's mask was the top half of a dragon's skull, black to match the rest of his outfit. He'd even spelled the eyes to burn red. Just beneath the jagged teeth, he was grinning.

"Maybe he'll help us!" Lup said, hurling her fire at the boar. It caught fire and roared just as Magnus tossed the first of the two riders off the side of their chariot.

Taako laughed and rode passed the flatbed truck, moving into a good position to beat them to Sloane.

"Is this that guy you were talking about yesterday?" Hurley demanded.

"Maybe," Merle said.

"You told me he wouldn't be a problem!"

"Technically," Merle pointed out, "he's not in the race, so even if he beats us, as long as we beat Sloane we still make our point, right? I mean. Right?"

Lup crouched down in her turret to cup a hand around her mouth. "I'm gonna try to dispel Garyl!" she called to them.

"With how fast your friend is going, that'll be his funeral!"

Lup shook her head hard enough to shake her mask out of place. "Taako's too good a wizard for that, he'll be able to recover. But I don't think he knows anything else that'll keep him in the race!"

"Do it!" Merle shouted.

In the background, the raging boar finally died, just as Magnus hurled the second rider off the side. At the last moment, he gathered himself to leap to safety. It would have made sense for him to jump onto the cricket truck, which probably went a ways toward explaining why he leapt for Garyl instead.

"That idiot!" Lup cried.

Against all odds, Magnus landed his jump, but not well: He ended up sideways across Garyl's back, clinging to the spectral binicorn's entire hind end. Taako turned with an incomprehensible shout, whacking at Magnus's back but unable to get enough purchase to heave him off. Which was not surprising, since Merle had never known Taako, not once in over a hundred years, to best Magnus in a competition of strength.

Magnus was yelling at Taako, grabbing at his arm, trying to tell him something. Taako twisted away from him, yelling right back at him and not actually paying attention to where his binicorn was going.

Garyl tripped.

Taako and Magnus shouted in unison, clinging to each other as the spectral mount went down. Without seeming to think about it, Taako pulled Magnus close and pushed with his magic. He Blinked, towing Magnus with him. They reappeared on the crickets' flatbed, still tangled tight in panic. Magnus regained his footing, standing with Taako cradled in his arms. They looked at each other, eyes meeting through their masks, and shared a hysterical laugh.

Merle felt a swell of fierce love rise in him, love and a kind of peace he hadn't felt since that last game with Davenport on the Starblaster, the last time they'd all been together. Lup and Angus were right. Taako was still in there, somewhere, their Taako, the real Taako, under all the silver and black, beneath the dragon skull and callous focus on the Relics. He was there, and theirs, and they would rescue him.

The crickets lunged for Taako and Magnus. Taako flailed his way out of Magnus' arms, one leg caught up in his hold and the other hanging toward the ground. Magnus reached for Railsplitter but got smacked in the face by Taako's flailing. The nearest cricket raised its axe.

"Not today, asshole!" Lup shouted, twisting fire in her highest spell slot so it raced across the distance between her and them, catching not just that cricket but the entire flatbed on fire. Magnus stumbled, losing his hold on Taako. The elf, definitely not expecting a wall of fire, tripped backwards.

He fell.

"No!" Lup screamed.

A stream of dust came up as Taako flew through the air, almost in slow motion. Instead of falling to his death, Taako was caught like a foul ball in a gigantic furry hand, then placed gently in the sidecar of an enormous motorcycle. Which was being driven by the bugbear they'd freed from the shark gang, the same one they'd met back in the caves, who'd been ready to attack them on the orders of a Charm spell cast by an unknown third party.

"Wow," said Klarg, looking over at Taako with what looked like genuine fondness in his expression. "That was a close one, wasn’t it?"

Taako, one leg not quite in the sidecar, sitting more across than in it, shoulders pinned up around ears lifted high in shock, looked around. They saw him assess where he was: safe, with Klarg who loved him, in a motorcycle swiftly pulling ahead of Hurley's battlewagon. He threw both arms in the air. "Hell yeah, baby! Hugbear to the rescue! Let's win this thing!"

"I'd like nothing better, Taako, my dear friend," Klarg agreed. Taako slammed one palm against the motorcycle, whooping in glee as Klarg revved the engine and pushed them even further in the lead.

"That's cheating!" Magnus shouted.

Taako flipped him off, head thrown back in jubilant laughter. 

Lup cast Levitate on Magnus, using his crowbar rope grappling hook to pull him back aboard when he hurled it at her. The prodigiously on-fire cricket truck fell to pieces as they pulled away. "Follow that hugbear!" Lup shouted.

After that, things got a little weird.

Hurley finally told Merle to press The Big Red Button, which he had been aching to do since she first showed it to him during their training montage the day before. It turbo powered her engines, sending them hurtling recklessly forward. They zoomed passed Taako, who shouted furiously at them, and Klarg, who put a touch more horizontal distance between his stolen bike and the ram wagon.

"We're gonna do it!" Hurley shouted as they approached Sloane's wagon. "We're gonna beat her!"

For a moment, it looked like they would. They were slightly faster than the Klarg-cycle now, sneaking ahead of it and closing the gap between them and Sloane. Merle looked back in time to see Taako finally right himself in his sidecar, sitting up to dig for something in his coat.

"That thing's like a cocktail dress!" Merle complained to Lup. "Where's he keeping all this  _stuff?_ "

"Pockets of Holding?" Lup suggested. "It doesn't even matter right now, Merle! For once, we're gonna beat him. We're gonna  _win!"_

They probably would have. Except for the thing Taako pulled out of his coat was a wand, which he swished through the air before aiming it at Sloane's battlewagon. "Fantasy Sam’s Club!" he shouted as he readied the spell. "Get you some!"

The wand worked its magic. Merle squinted to try and spellcast for a chance at know what, excactly, that magic was. Looked like a switching spell. Did Taako mean to swap himself for the Raven and win the race? But, no, Taako wasn't here to knock sense into Sloane.

He was here for the Gaia Sash.

The people he switched were Sloane and Klarg.

What Merle could see of Sloane beneath her mask when she appeared on the motorcycle looked shocked. Taako, now standing in the sidecar with one knee braced on the edge, spread his hands as he cast Reduce. The motorcycle immediately halved in size, sending Sloane tumbling across the ground. Taako flipped and landed with his usual style, immediately turning to face Sloane. She got up slowly, menace and power growing off her like vines. In fact, they _were_ vines, snaking across the ground toward Taako.

"Damn it!" Hurley shouted. She yanked on the emergency brake, sending her wagon squealing in a tailspin. Klarg sailed ahead of them to win the race. As soon as the wagon slowed enough, Hurley leapt out the side. "Sloane!" she called. "Don't do this! You think that sash is all-powerful but it didn't even help you win the--"

"No cutting in line," Taako said, clenching his hands around the power gathering there. "This dance is all Taako." He let loose a Whirlwind that knocked Hurley back. Sloane, shuddering and panting, doubled over, clutching her chest. Streaks of blue lightning arced off her body. Everywhere they struck the ground, giant vines shot violently out of the ground. 

Merle, Magnus, and Lup reached Hurley's side just as the ground began shaking, sending the gathered crowds screaming for safety. Sloane turned to Taako, something hateful in her demeanor, and launched herself at him. They hit with a dull thud, a sound swept away by a hurricane of wind. Sloane--or maybe at this point it was the Sash-- picked the two of them up and hurled them over the edge of Goldcliff.

Lup and Hurley screamed in unison, racing after them. Merle fought to catch up.

"We'll have a better chance in the wagon!" Magnus shouted, leading the charge in that direction. They all piled back in Hurley's ram wagon. 

Hurley tore her mask off, hurling it aside as she yanked at the controls of her wagon, releasing the brake and revving the engine. "This might be a one-way trip!" she shouted.

"Enough stalling," Lup said immediately, crowded behind the driver's seat. "That asshole down there is my brother, and I'm not gonna let him die!"

"Are you  _serious_?" Hurley shrieked as they roared toward the edge of the cliff.

"Maybe now's not the time!" Magnus shouted.

And they went over the edge. Full-speed, no hesitation, eyes locked forward, they raced into the abyss. Sloane caught them.

With a tornado. 

"This is a lot of wind and a little wagon!" Merle hollered above the screaming wind. 

"What's your point?" Lup shouted back, clinging to the side of the wagon like her life depended on it. Not that it did, seeing as she was a lich, but her body counted on it, and she was already pretty attached to it.

Merle flailed one hand briefly before gripping the door again. "I'm just not sure how well this plan was thought through!"

"Not our biggest problem right now," Hurley called.

"What  _is?"_

She pointed out the window.

In the eye of the tornado, stood a giant pillar, more than ten stories tall, made out of hundreds of thick, twisting vines. At the crest of the pillar, the vines formed a smallish platform. And on that platform was Sloane, semi-encased in these vines, her legs absorbed in vegetation. Her mask was off, her skin is a mottled gray, her eyes glossed over and vacant. 

A thrall of the Sash.

"I feel like this one's on me," Merle called.

"Can we not right now?" Lup demanded, sounding irritated. She jammed her finger down at Sloane. "He's gonna beat us to  _another_ Relic!"

Taako prowled the edge of the platform, keeping his distance but searching for a way in. They watched him test the vines with a fireball, then raise his hand to call an ice storm.

"Sloane's not gonna like it much if he moves on to poison or Sunburst," she said. 

"He know  _Sunburst?"_ Hurley cried. "That's eighth level--!  _Who the hell is this guy?_ "

"Kind of not the point," Merle said.

Lup grabbed Hurley's seat to give it a hard shake. "We have get down there  _now!"_

"Wait!" Magnus cried, twisting in place to start scrambling toward the back. "I have an idea!"

"What're you think--" Hurley looked back. "Hell yes!" She pumped one fist in the air. "Do it!"

Magnus was way ahead of her.

He crawled into Lup's fighting turret, turning the huge unused harpoon on the vine pillar. "Brace yourselves!" he shouted, and fired.

The harpoon hit dead center with such an impressive, horrifying sound that Taako flinched, losing his concentration and breaking the Sunburst growing in his hold. He looked back at them, pulling his mask up so they could see his glare. The rope attaching them to the harpoon yanked taut with a bone-creaking wrench. It looped around the vine, slowly pulling them closer. Taako looked like he was considering severing the rope. They landed before he could. Well.

Landed was a bit generous.

They survived the crash and climbed quickly up to the platform.

Taako was waiting for them, arms crossed, expression annoyed. "If you don't have a better idea," he said, "I've got some meteors that might do the trick."

Lup frowned at him. "Since when?"

Taako rolled his eyes. "I'm an elf of mystery, bubala, nobody in creation knows all of Taako's depths."

"Don't bet on it, babe."

"Don't call me--"

"Can we maybe focus?" Hurley demanded.

"I'm still for the meteors," Taako said with a shrug.

"She's your friend; you know her best," Merle said, patting Hurley's shoulder. "We'll follow your lead."

"I don't--" Hurley shook her head, looking pale. "I don't know her like  _this."_

Merle looked at Sloane and saw Gundren, consumed by the Relic. Guilt and shame grabbed his heart and squeezed: This wasn't what he meant for the Gaia Sash to do. He'd thought the people of Faerun could use it to fix their forests, help new life to grow, protect themselves from storms and rock slides. Now here Sloane was, consumed by it, causing pain to herself and her loved one.

Faerun would have been devastated if they'd taken the Light and run, back all those years ago. Would it have been better that way? Kinder? They'd known the Relics would cause problems, but not like this. Nothing like this.

"I'm so sorry, Sloane," Merle murmured, tears welling uselessly in his eyes. "Hurley, I'm so-- Pan knows how sorry I am."

"Later," Magnus said, resting a hand on Merle's back even as Hurley said, "It's not your fault. You've all done more than anyone could reasonably ask. I just wish...I wish I could talk to her. I wish she could tell me how to help her." She scrubbed a hand over her eyes. "I just want her back."

"All right then," Merle said, lifting his X-Treme Teen Bible high. "Maybe I can help with some of that."

"What're you--?" Hurley began.

"This figures," Lup sighed. 

"I cast Zone of Truth," Merle said.

The spell washed over them, sliding off Hurley and Lup but sticking to Magnus, Merle, Sloane.

And Taako.

"You know that spell's useless," Taako said, "right? I mean, she's a big tower of vines! How's truth gonna help us?"

Hurley stepped forward. "Sloane?" she called, voice trembling. "Sloane, can you hear me?"

"No," said the Sash through Sloane. "The wielder is gone. Only I remain. Take me up, and my power will be yours."

"Sold," Taako said, already moving forward.

Magnus caught him. "We have to save her."

"You can't," Taako said, gesturing toward the vines. "You heard the thing, whoever she was is gone. I can't lie right now, remember? Ain't no one to save anymore."

"I can't lie either," Magnus said. "We're going to save her."

Taako rolled his eyes.

Hurley stepped forward. "Sloane," she called. "Sloane, I know you're in there somewhere. You're too strong to let this beat you. You're my partner, and I  _know_ you. We didn't spend all that time racing and risking my job for you to just disappear. I need you to fight, Sloane. Tell me how to save you!"

The voice that came from Hurley's partner wasn't Sloane's. What spoke to them was still the Sash. "You cannot free your lover. I am absolute."

The Sash extended Sloane's arm, and with it came sickly green vines with caustic looking thorns. It raked the vines across those gathered. Hurley and Taako leaped out of the way, but Merle, Magnus, and Lup were all knocked back.

"Sorry about your girlfriend, I guess," Taako said, flicking his braid back over his shoulder. "But I don't really have all day."

"No!" Hurley screamed.

"Taako,  _please",_  Lup begged, trying to get across the platform to him. "Don't take Sloane away from her!"

Taako cast Fireball in such a high spell slot that it basically vaporized the vine pillar, turning it into ash. For a moment, as the dust settled, Merle was sure he'd killed Sloane.

But then the ash stopped falling, and Sloane was left standing there, in the heart of the vine monster's failing corpse. He'd vaporized her protective cocoon, leaving her open for attack. Or persuasion. He could have killed her but--

Taako was still in there. Somewhere. Still one of them.

"Impressive," the Sash said through Sloane. She lifted her arms. "Now try this." The vines she grew then were an inky black with shining white thorns.

"Shit," Merle said, throwing an arm back to catch Magnus and herd him away just as Hurley was shouting, "Guys, be careful! Be careful!" 

"It's silverpoint," Merle said, expression grim. "Its venom is cursed. There’s no cure."

"If you get touched by that," Hurley agreed, "there’s no surviving! Stay back!"

The vines stretched out, feeling their way against the platform around Sloane, then slowly rose up to encase her.

To entomb her.

"Oh no," Lup said weakly. " _Sloane."_

Hurley stepped forward. "Guys," she said, turning back to face them. "I've got one more idea." She eyed Taako speculatively. "You. You could have killed her, and you didn't."

Taako's ears pinned back. He looked away, arms folded, mouth pursed, like he was in trouble.

"You're an asshole," she said on a sigh. "But I guess...you seem to mean something to these guys. Anyway!" She went to the very edge of the vine platform, looking down as though gauging distance. "We're gonna need a lot of space between her and us if this is gonna work." She beckoned Taako over. "You're the big magic man here. What do you think?"

Taako inched towards her suspiciously, hands still tucked under his armpits, and glanced down.

Hurley pushed him.

Taako twisted in mid-air as he fell, eyes huge with shock. For a moment, it looked like he would regain his footing. Then Hurley pushed him again, right in the chest.

She used the motion to shove her harness in his arms. 

The safety bubble deployed. Taako started shouting.

Actually,  _everyone_ started shouting.

"Thank you for everything," Hurley said. To Taako, to Merle, to all of them--even to Sloane.

She clasped her hands together and pointed them Merle and the other two still on the platform and used a wave of force to blast them backwards off the edge. Instantly, their harness bubbles deployed. As they soared backward into the outskirts of the tornado. Merle saw Hurley clap her hands together with determination. She started to glow with brilliant white light, brighter than the silverpoint thorns, and she took a running leap head first into the brambles encasing Sloane. Her white light started to shimmer throughout the vines, out into the tornado that trapped Merle and his friends, and up into the sky above Goldcliff. 

And then everything went black.

Merle came to surrounded by the others. Magnus and Lup were already awake. Lup knelt by her brother, who was stretched out on the ground, still unconscious. She had one hand on his back, the other resting lightly on the back of his head. He started to stir under her touch, just barely cracking his eyes open. Lup murmured softly at him, likely warning him to take it slow as he lifted his head and struggled to sit up. Magnus crouched between them and something else, shoulders slumped in a very un-Magnus-like ways. Merle knew in his gut he didn't want to see whatever would put such a wretched expression on Magnus' face.

Merle looked up.

They had landed in the middle of Goldcliff, in a shallow pool of water, surrounded on all sides by tall, shimmering buildings. Merle lifted his face to the sun, taking a moment to bask in the now perfect weather. 

Also in the pool, about twenty feet away, was The Raven. Sloane. Hale and healthy, physically recovered from the Sash possession. In her arms, she was cradling Hurley, who looked...

Merle had seen silverpoint poisoning before. Victims of the plant had their skin turn pitch black while something that looked like a plague climbing up their veins. Merle had never seen anyone as bad off as Hurley looked, clutched in Sloane's arms. Sirens sounded in the distance, slowly getting closer, but they wouldn't be in time. No medical or emergency services could save Hurley now. Sloane was rescued.

But Hurley was lost.

She lifted her hand to touch Sloane's cheek. "You're in trouble," she teased playfully, soft as death crept closer.

Sloane sobbed a laugh, tears dripping from her chin down onto Hurley's face. "This whole time I was looking for something more powerful than this fucking belt." She curled over Hurley. "I'm such a fool!"

"Yeah," Hurley laughed.

"Cleric." Merle looked over toward the unexpected voice. Taako had gotten to his feet, flanked by Lup and Magnus, and was watching Sloane with Hurley with an unreadable expression. His fists were clenched tight, though, his ears pinned down and low. "You have healing magic, don't you?"

Merle moved forward in a thoughtless, aborted motion to offer Taako comfort he would no longer welcome. "I'm sorry, kid," he said, heart breaking. "There's no cure for silverpoint."

Taako whirled on him. "Horseshit!"

"This is--" Sloane cleared her throat. "The venom of silverpoint is… There’s nothing we can do for her."

"Horseshit!" he cried again. "This is your fault! She did this for  _you!_ "

"I know." Sloane looked up, expression twisted with pain.  "There's something I can try." She leaned back down to whisper in Hurley's ear.

"Yeah," Hurley said, head twitching in a faint nod. "I think that'd be alright."

Sloane sat up, turning her attention back onto them.  "Are there other objects in this world that are as powerful as this belt?"

Taako looked away.

"Yeah," Lup admitted. "I'm so sorry, but-- Yeah, there are."

"Don’t let this happen again." She looked at Taako, waiting until he caught her eye, holding contact until he nodded. She nodded, too, then she closed her eyes.

Another flash of blinding light washed over them, followed by an explosion of force that threw water in the pool back into Merle's face. He blinked hard, and when the spots cleared from his vision he realized they were being buffeted by a thick whirlwind of light pink petals. As the wind died down, it left thousands of petals floating weightlessly through the air. In the middle of the pool, a beautiful towering cherry blossom tree had appeared: the source of the petals. 

Merle had been to a lot of places, seen a lot of trees. This one was the prettiest. 

At its base, the roots and knots formed two vaguely humanoid shapes. One was a shorter figure, lying in the embrace of a taller figure. And on the ground, in the water in front of them, floated a raven mask and a ram’s mask. Tucked neatly in between the two of them was the Gaia Sash.

For a long moment, silent except for the wind through the cherry blossom leaves and the ever-approaching sirens, none of them moved. Then Taako strode forward through the pool, jaw set, to pick up the Sash.

"Whatever you're collecting them for," Merle said, feeling his shoulders droop under the weight of the day, "it won't end any better than this, kiddo. What happened here--that's just what happens with the Relics. It's how they work in the world."

"This one's nature powers." Taako's hands clenched around the sash, wrinkling its fine material. "If I used it, I could--" He winced, doubling over a bit as he clutched at his chest, pressing the Sash over something causing him pain.

Over that stone they all knew hung underneath.

He drew in a shuddering breath. Slowly, deliberately, he relaxed. His spine lengthened into a casual curve; he hung the Sash over one shoulder; even his ears lifted, if somewhat less successfully. He tossed his head like he was shaking off a layer of dust. "Anyway." He shot finger guns at them. "It's been real, homies. I guess I'll see you next time."

"You don't have to go," Lup protested. She stepped toward him, hands raised in supplication, only pausing when he edged away. "You can stay with us; we can help you!"

"Pass," he said with a bland smile. "I've been helped before. Turns out helping sucks. Catch you losers later."

The wind rose, kicking up a hurricane of petals around Hurley and Sloane's tree. When they settled, Taako was gone.

"Four to one, now," Magnus said. " _Fuck."_

Which, yeah.

That about summed it up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fantasy Sam's Club is run by Nermal the Bargains Bard. The Fantasy Sam's Club theme is the Fantasy Costco theme in a minor key with slightly different words. Nermal smiles but is a MUCH WORSE PERSON than Garfield. You can imagine the rivalry.
> 
> Also, next up? KRAVITZ. *aggressive shoulder shimmy* LOVE IS IN THE AIR♪♫♬


	5. The Philosopher's Stone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BIG THANKS to Hawk, without whom I would not know how to spell ANYTHING. I LOVE YOU, HAWK.

"This one's going to be a little weird."

Magnus paused by the mantle where he was holding Angus aloft so the boy could hang up Candlenights stockings. " _This one_  is gonna be weird?" He shot an incredulous look back at Barry, who stood flanked by Lucretia in the doorway of their dorm. "Are you saying the other ones don't qualify as  _weird?"_

"Some ladies turned into a tree," Lup said, industriously hanging small twinkle lights around the room.

"Our main rival in all this has been Taako," Merle added from the couch, stringing popcorn garlands and shaking his head. "Worse, he's kicking our ass."

"He said he could summon meteors," Lup told Davenport, who was holding the rest of her lights rope in one hand and drinking a hot toddy with the other.

"Bullshit," Davenport said loyally but with almost no actual interest. 

"It's a ninth-level spell!"

"Don't believe it unless you see it."

"That's what I'm saying!"

"Can we focus?" Barry asked.

"Not with that attitude," Magnus said, walking Angus down the mantle.

"It sounds pretty important, sir," Angus pointed out, tacking the last stocking--Lucretia's--in place.

"Yeah, but it's also probably not going anywhere. It'll keep."

Lucretia cleared her throat. "Actually."

 

Lucas Miller had been working with Lucretia almost since the moment she founded the Bureau of Balance, years before her fateful trip to Wonderland that set all her plans askew. He'd designed the moon base, the glass travel spheres, basically all the tech and equipment they used. At the beginning, he'd been more of an assistant to his mother's work. After she died, though, it was Lucas who made Lucretia's dreams into reality. Without him, the B.o.B. might have been just a handful of people in a crappy building somewhere. Lucas was brilliant, headstrong.

And currently in a lot of trouble.

"How the  _fuck_  did he get his hands on the Philosopher's Stone without you noticing?" Lup complained to Lucretia while she, Magnus, and Merle were fitted for their crystal-proof suits.

On the other side of the room, a team of Regulators--Boyland, Killian, and Carey Fangbattle--were having their own suits sprayed down for their portion of the mission: to arrest Lucas for abuse of confidential information. "How seems like a question for Lucas," Killian said.

"Yeah," Carey agreed, "after we've saved the world from being turned into a  bunch of pink crystal."

Boyland grunted.

Lup pointed her whole hand at the Regulators. "And why are you sending in a second team!"

"I need you to focus on the Stone," Lucretia said. "It might be that you three will end up facing some...competition. For the Stone."

"I sure hope not," Merle sighed. "He beats us to it every single time."

"It'd be nice to get a win," Magnus agreed.

"Who's  _he?"_  Carey asked.

"Someone we need to be looking out for?" Killian added.

"I sure hope not," Merle said again.

Boyland grunted.

"Here's a follow-up question," Killian said, suspicion deep in her voice even as she stepped aside so Magnus and the others could get their...whatever coating. "How do we know you guys are actually trying to get the Relics back? It'd be pretty easy for you to pretend you're losing them to this... _guy_ but really be keeping them for yourselves."

"Why would we do that?" Lup asked, sounding more curious than worried. "Also, can we get a spare suit? Y'know, just in case. Someone might need it."

"The someone who keeps taking the Relics?" Carey asked.

"Wait," Magnus said. "Are you... Do you think we're just  _letting_ Taako take them?"

"Ix-nay on the Aako-tay," Merle muttered, stepping forward for his turn in the whatever spray.

"Is that his name?" Carey asked. "Taako?"

"Yeah," Lup said, her expression sad even through her helmet. "He's my--"

"I don't think now is the time," Lucretia interrupted. "Please remember that if Lucas's lab falls into the Stillwater Sea, none of this will matter."

"Still keepin' those secrets," Merle pointed out. "It's a bad habit, Lucy."

Killian stabbed a finger in Merle's direction. "That's another thing! Why are you all--"

"Focus, please," Lucretia insisted. "You all seem ready to go, so you should head over to Avi. He has the coordinates and is ready to send you off. I know your groups haven't worked together much before--"

"Much?" Carey echoed. "How about never?"

"--but I think you can all benefit from each other's expertise. Focus on your tasks. Get that stone back and Lucas secured as fast as you can."

Carey, Killian, and Boyland nodded sharply. "Yes, Director."

Lup raised her hand. "Can I get that spare suit or...?"

Lucretia sighed deeply. "We don't have any extras," she said. "You six are wearing the last of them."

"That seems like poor emergency planning," Magnus said with a slight frown. "What are you security protocols in case of--"

"Magnus," she said, frustration sharp under his name. "Can we please do this later?"

"Under the circumstances, sure. But I won't forget, Luce!"

"I know you won't." She smiled lopsidedly, hands gripped tight around the Bulwark Staff. "I'm not nearly that lucky."

 

Magnus tried to strike up some friendly conversation with the Regulators on the way down to the lab. Boyland wasn't much of a talker, and Killian seemed too suspicious of them to relax enough for a chat, but Carey at least tried to be a little friendly.

Then they hit the storm, and the two groups were separated.

"Aw," Magnus grumbled, cutting a path through the snow for his friends to walk in. "I was hoping we could all stick together!"

"We're here for different jobs," Lup pointed out, looking for an opening. "We don't really need to huddle up here."

"There's safety in numbers," Magnus reminded her.

Lup and Merle both burst out laughing. "Since when are you the safety guy?" Merle chuckled, rubbing at his helmet like he was wiping away a mirthful tear.

Magnus pouted, even though they were pretty much right. He didn't really think that much about his own safety.

Theirs, though? Well. Their safety was his job. Had been for over a hundred years, even if he didn't remember a chunk of it for a while there. It wasn't a big deal to extend his protection bubble a little further. It only seemed fair, with Taako gone. Not to replace him, of course, nobody could do that. But protecting a bunch of B.o.B. police-types might prove just distracting enough to keep him from focusing on all the ways Taako might be out there in the world, going after Relics on his own, that stone hurting him, too far away from Magnus for him to--

Anyway, yeah, making and protecting new friends just seemed like a good idea.

"Hey Lucas?" Lup called into the Stone of Farspeech Lucretia had given her. "We're here. Any advice on getting inside?"

"There are actually a few points of entry that you can conceivably get into the base through," he said, sounding small through her stone, "but your best bet is the conservatory. I have a pretty big skylight there that was open when everything went down, so you should be able to get through there pretty easily. And once you're inside, just start making your way to the center of the facility. You'll find the medbay where I'm holed up. I'm in the main elevator lobby on the same floor as the conservatory. You just have to go through some of my lab facilities to get there from the conservatory. Also, if you can power them down as you go, you'll be able to free up some power that I can channel back into the suspension cores and buy us all some more time."

"Sounds like a plan," Lup said, glancing at the others to make sure they were on board.

Magnus nodded. "Yeah, sound great. Let's go!"

A few steps later, Angus sounded over their stones. “Be careful in there. According to the fantasy psych profile I've drawn up based on what the Director has told me about Lucas, he's a pretty reckless individual, and I'm willing to bet his experiments aren't above-board safety wise."

"This is getting more and more fun," Merle said with a snort. "Come on, let's get to it."

They found the skylight easily, peering down into it to scope for potential enemies. Magnus leaned over toward Lucretia's stone hanging around Lup's neck. "Hey, Lucas, are there any, like, attack robots or crystalline monsters or anything we need to be aware of maybe popping out at us?"

"I didn't--" he stammered back, "I didn't, I mean. I mean, I didn't see anything? I just saw the lab around me sorta start to get all pink and crystally, and so I ran as fast as I could for the nearest airlock, so, I--"

"Sure, so, theoretically it could be anything from 'no monsters or robots' to 'every monster and robot that has the ability to hide', that sounds great," Lup said. She wreathed her hands in fire. "Let's get this bad boy done!"

They leapt into the conservatory, trying to avoid as much of the dense pink crystal as they could. All around them was a forest of pink crystallized trees with two paths cut through it. One led off toward a crystallized pond, the other curving back toward a clearing, also now made of pale pink crystals. Assorted gardening robots had been transmuted, too, each in the process of maintaining the garden. It seemed quiet, more like a tomb than a lab, and sent a chill of foreboding down Magnus's back.

"Stick together," he reminded his friends, trying to shift so they were both behind him. "Anything could be down here."

"You're so paranoid," Lup laughed. "This is all gonna turn out to just be some big lab accident, no biggie."

Which was when, of course, the song started. 

_Pulled from my home inside a cloud_

_lost to the dark I drift alone_

_now I'm returned beyond the shroud_

_ever to reign upon my throne_

_here in my Crystal Kingdom_

 

"...Well," Lup said when the music faded. "That sure was some. Good tinkling."

"Got some good crinkle tinkling," Merle agreed as they all huddled close together trying to locate the source.

"Good good crinkle tinkles," Magnus said without thought, Railsplitter drawn and held out defensively.

Then a portal opened in front of them, sliced through reality, small enough to let a tennis-ball sized light float through.

"Hey," Lup said, sounding alarmed, "is that a--"

The light dropped into the crystal pond.

That was when things officially went from weird to bad.

What felt like an earthquake shook the room. All around them, trees fell over, shattering across the ground. Shards of the ruined trees flew toward the lake where that light dropped in. From the lake rose a huge chunk of crystal. Mangus and Lup leapt out of the way.

Merle took one straight to the stomach, knocked back with a breathy oomph. The suit did its job: He rose without a cut, clutching his stomach with a groan, hurt but not crystallizing. Magnus took a step toward Merle, wanting to maybe regroup with him, when the shards started reforming behind them, back over the lake.

"Ah, beans," Lup said.

The crystals coalesced into a nightmare monstrosity, fifteen feet tall with four razor-sharp claws extending off arms nearly the same length as its body. Its long legs ended in points more than feet, which would have hurt its balance if it'd been standing on the ground. Kind of explained why it was floating, though. Its main body was tall and wide and thick, a solid block of tourmaline with nasty spurs pointing out of it. Three more crystal spikes rose out of its head to form a kind of pyramid. The light that had dropped out of the tear had spread throughout the golem, filling it with white fire. All in all, a fairly menacing design.

"4 out of 10 points," Magnus said, readying Railsplitter. "Not that scary."

The creature began spluttering. "Wha-? Excuse you!" It indicated its body with a pass of one enormous arm. "This is terrifying!" it said in a thick accent. 

Magnus shrugged. "Sorry, buddy. I've seen worse."

"Oh, for sure," Lup agreed, fire wreathing her hands. "Do you remember, what was it, the twenty-seventh cycle?"

"We said we'd never bring that up again," Merle complained. He touched a hand to his stomach, restoring his health with a low-level spell. Then he tilted his head back to look at the monster. "So who're you?"

"I--" It seemed to shake itself, drawing back up out of its slouch to its full height. It pointed one enormous arm at Merle, the white fire inside of it glowing more intensely. " **You** ," it said.

"Nah, nope, too late," Lup said, batting her hand through the air. "You gave up your intimidation factor too soon, thug. My boyfriend is scarier than you at this point. How about you just tell us what you want like a grown up soul."

The golem seemed to freeze, then turned its head slowly to look at her. "...Like a what?"

Lup planted both hands on her hips. "Just who do you think we are, big guy? You think I'm gonna watch a soul pop in from the Astral Plane and not recognize it? I'm  _Lup,_ baby, I know souls."

"Wait." The golem lifted both arms, cradling a patch of open air. A book formed in the empty space, opening and flipping rapidly through the pages. "Did you say  _Lup?"_

"Uh." She looked back at Magnus, who shrugged. "...Yeah? Accept no substitutes?"

"The book snapped shut. "Oh-ho, I thought I was just gonna get Highchurch and come back for the rest later, but you. You're a lich."

Lup squinted at him. "Not at present, doll."

"You got something against liches?" Magnus demanded at the same time, inching forward to get between Lup and the golem.

"It's nothing personal," the golem assured him. "Just business."

"What're you," Lup demanded, "a reaper?"

The golem seemed to wilt. "What gave it away?"

Lup threw her hands in the air. "We don't have time for this," she told him. "You're undead so you'll hear me when I say: We're from a secret organization called the Bureau of Balance. There is an uber-powerful artifact called the Philosopher's Stone turning this whole place into crystal. Everything that touches the crystal gets crystallized too, in real quick order. Look around, big guy." She indicated the forest around them. "You think this happened on purpose?"

"I'm not here for a stone," the reaper protested. "I'm here for--"

"Bounties," Lup said with a nod, "sure. If your book keeps track of the times we died even when we weren't in this planar system, we'd be a pretty big one."

Magnus rested Railsplitter back on his shoulder. "Did it count as a death every time we got brought back in our recorded states," he wondered, "or just when we, like. Physically died."

Lup pointed at him. "Good question. What's my bounty up to?" she asked the golem. "Fifteen or a hundred something?"

The golem moved like it wanted to pinch the bridge of its nose. "A hundred-- What are you  _talking about?_ Nobody's died a  _hundred_ times, in this or any other plane!"

"Physically dead," Lup said to Magnus.

"Oh jeez," Merle said, starting to count on his fingers. "How many times did I parlay with John?" He looked up at the golem. "What'm I at, bud, about, uh...thirty? Forty times?"

"It's gotta be more than that," Magnus protested. "You talked to that asshole on, like, half the cycles we went through!"

" _Anyway_ ," Lup interrupted. "I get that we'd be big bounties, but maybe you could find it in your soul to postpone our fighting until  _after_ we've saved the world from being crystallized when this lab crashes into the Stillwater Sea?"

"...I have to go check on something," the reaper said. Its white fire-light--its soul, according to Lup--slid out of the crystal and into another small rift. The golem collapsed, sending huge tourmaline chunks scattering across the ground. 

Then it was gone.

"I hope this isn't setting the tenor for this whole mission," Lup said, striding forward toward a metal hatch in a circle of glowing light.

"Maybe he just needs a quiet place and somebody to talk to," Merle suggested as he and Magnus followed her lead. "Do I need to parley this guy, y'think? Talk some sense into 'im?"

"Let's not put you in a position where your only way out is to be murdered by a reaper," Lup suggested, yanking at the hatch. 

"Good call," Magnus agreed.

The hatch held firm. When more yanking and team yanking and hitting it with a sword repeatedly didn't work, Lup called Lucas, who explained about the arcane airlock and let them through. 

"Hey, Magnus here," the fighter called to Lucas. "You haven't, by chance, in all your experiments, heard kind of a singing, have you?"

"Wh-what?" Lucas stammered. "No, I-- Nothing like that, I swear!"

"Uh-huh," Lup said dryly as they climbed through the airlock.

"Listen, were you guys just...were you fighting something? Because there's not supposed to be anything else down here but us."

"I also super believe that you don't know what we were talking to," Lup said, sarcasm turning her words into a desert of doubt. "I'm 100% on-board with the idea that this is all a big shock and surprise to you, Lucas, what's happening in your lab. Reapers just randomly show up all the time!"

Lucas went very quiet. "Are you gonna let him get me?" he asked softly. 

"That depends on you, Lucas," Lup said while Magnus and Merle traded confused glances.

"Look, I know I-- Just." He sighed. "Can we focus on keeping the lab from crashing into the sea, and then deal with...with the rest later?"

"That sounds good to me." Lup glanced back at the others, raising a questioning eyebrow. When they nodded, she turned back toward the interior of the lab. "Okay, Lucas. What do we do now?" 

_I saw beyond the universe_

_Far past the places we should see_

_But for my vision I was cursed_

_Torn from my home and family_

_Lost to my Crystal Kingdom._

 

The further into the lab they went, the more Magnus bought into the idea that, yeah, maybe Lucas was trying to fuck them over. The Magical World of Elevators, Upsy and that dumb cockroach battle, friggin' Hodge Podge the Buddy-Bot _,_ some plot that had to do with Lucas's dead mom and the local planar system, and tardigrades in a random and deeply unappreciated zero-g room.

On the plus side, they did meet a hug-shaped robot named NO-3113, who seemed happy to help them, and a room full of hugbears that said they were Klarg's family and might actually kind of be slaves? That part was less cool, and Magnus vowed to loop back around to it once the Philosopher's Stone was back in their control.

Also, Boyland was dead. So yeah, this adventure? Not exactly a good time had by all. And somehow, for sure, based on what Lup was saying and what Magnus knew of the world, what they knew came of messing with the planar system, it was Lucas's fault. Maybe not deliberately, but somehow. For sure.

Lucas Miller was at the bottom of all of this.

"When I get my hands on that guy," Magnus grumbled as they waited for Lup to carefully melt the ice covering a door that was separating them and the Regulators.

"This has been a pretty shitty job," Merle agreed.

Lup sighed, pressing her hands closer to the doors to amplify the concentration of her fire. "At least it can't get any--"

"Don't!" shouted Magnus, Merle, and muffled Regulators, all at once.

A rift cut open behind them. The reaper slid through, a ball of light that pulsed angrily a few times before taking on humanoid shape. He was surprisingly handsome: A tall, fit dark-skinned man with long dreadlocks pulled back in a golden tie, wearing a sharp black-on-black suit with a golden skull tie-pin and matching cuff-links. His eyes burned a deep, furious red. 

"Oh hey," Merle said, lifting one hand in a wave. "The golem!"

Lup didn't turn away from her melting. "S'up, dude?"

Magnus grinned at him. "The outfit's a little on-the-nose, isn't it?"

"I'm not here to talk fashion," he said, in a slightly different accent than before. "You three own me an explanation."

"Shoot," Lup said, still without turning.

He pulled out his book to flip through it. "Now, you told me quite a story, so I tried to corroborate it. Imagine my surprise when my witness had no idea what you were talking about."

"Witness?" Merle and Magnus traded confused looks. Magnus shrugged at the reaper. "Not sure what you mean, bud."

"My name isn't bud," he said with an offended scowl. "It's Kravitz. And I don't like being lied to."

"Well, hell! Neither do we," Merle said. "See? We got somethin' in common already!"

"I want you to tell me the truth," Kravitz insisted, snapping his book shut. "I asked him, and Taako said he didn't know--"

"Taako?" Lup whirled away from her task, eyes huge behind her helmet. "When did you see Taako?"

Kravitz shrugged one shoulder. "I just left him, actually."

"Taako's  _here_?" She threw an enormous absent-minded fireball at the frozen door, blowing it not just free of the ice but free of the wall as well. "Taako can't be here, he'll be turned to stone! Was he wearing a null suit?" she demanded, stalking furiously towards Kravitz, who backed up with an instinctual speed that said a lot about his intelligence.

"I...don't think so?"

"That  _idiot_!" Lup whirled toward the hallway leading further into the lab. "Where was he? Take me to him!"

"Now, just a moment," Kravitz protested. "I'm not going anywhere until you three HRK--" 

Magnus and the others whipped around. Kravitz flew across the room, driven straight through the air thanks to a newly appeared figure slamming into his back knees-first. The attacker pushed off Kravitz right before he rammed into the wall, flipping through the air to land neatly on the other side of the room.

"You left so soon," the attacker said. "We didn't really get a chance to finish! Gotta say though." He whistled appreciatively. " _Love_ the upgrade. Skin is a much better look on you than crystal."

The attacker was dressed in a sleek black suit that covered him chin to toes, finger tip to finger tip, leaving not an inch of him exposed. Even his boots--wicked stilettos and all--were a seamless part of the suit. His hair was caught up in a sheer black net, his face covered in a matching veil. The entire outfit was accented with chains and bangles of shining silver, rattling on his right wrist and left ankle, with a fine shawl of silver tied around his waist to drape down his right leg. A black and glowing red stone hung from a long chain wrapped twice around his neck.

Taako.

Kravitz rose with a chuckle, wiping a bit of blood from the side of his mouth. He extended his free hand, calling a wicked scythe into being. "It was quite rude of me," he agreed. "Shall we?"

Taako held out one of his hands, too, summoning a long polearm capped at one end with a long, wickedly curved blade. A glaive. Maybe not the one he'd made all those years ago, but...

At some unseen signal, Kravitz and Taako leapt at each other.

"Hey wait!" Lup cried, reaching out like she could catch her brother in motion.

Magnus gripped her shoulder. "He'll be fine," the fighter said, then jerked his head back toward the exit. "Which is more than I can say for the world if we don't get this situation under control. If we're lucky, they'll distract each other long enough for us to get the Relic."

"I like this idea," Killian said as she and Carey hurried by.

"Kinda looks like they're dancin'," Merle observed.

Magnus looked back, taking a moment to really watch how the reaper and the wizard did battle. And...yeah. It kinda did. Taako used his polearm to hurl spells at Kravitz, who either dodged or used his own magic to knock them back where they came from. Kravitz attacked physically more often than magically, leaping across the open space between them, or bouncing off the wall, or once even running across the ceiling, to get close enough to lock his weapon with Taako's.

And Taako, who Magnus had never seen match blades with another living creature in one hundred years of cycles, traded Kravitz blow for blow, grinning fiercely beneath his veil, every bit as dramatically flip-wizardy as Kravitz was being. 

When they got close enough, they spun and dipped around each other, a whirlwind of parries and thrusts, beautiful and deadly with an undercurrent that made Magnus narrow his eyes slightly. "...Hey, Lup. Does it kinda look to you like Taako wants to--"

"Let's deal with Taako's awkward murder crush some other time," Lup said, marching Magnus and Merle down the hall after their Regulators. "He's always had really terrible taste in guys, so this isn't exactly a shocker. Let's just focus on Lucas and the..." She glanced back at Taako, then rolled her eyes so hard at whatever she saw that her helmet knocked against Merle's. "The  _you know what."_

"Yeah okay," Magnus said. "I'm just thinking how bummed Barry's gonna be that he missed meeting an actual reaper."

"He'll get over it," Lup said, giving them one final push through the next airlock.

 

They found Lucas in the infirmary, bleeding from the head and  _still_ trying to pretend he hadn't done anything wrong.

"Listen," Lup interrupted him mid-rant. "This has been, just, y'know, indescribably awful--"

"I think I could describe it if you gave me some four-letter words and about ten minutes," Carey said from where she and Killian were blocking the door.

"Let's tag-team it," Merle suggested.

"If we're talking about how much we hate this lab," Magnus said. "I have some notes. Number one: bugbear  _slaves?_ " 

"Hey," Lucas protested, "they're not  _slaves,_ they're--"

Lup flailed her hands through the air. "Listen, Lucas! We all know you're in serious shit here!" She started ticking points off on her fingers. "You've got mirrors to all the planes except the Astral just lying around, your mom is pretty recently dead, something creepy keeps singing crinkle-tinkles at us, there's a  _reaper here."_

"Hey," he complained, "how do you know about the mirrors? Or the planar system? Have you been reading my--"

" _Lucas!"_  Lup strode across the room to take him by the shoulders for a hard shake. "I know you're trying to spin this as some accident resulting from perfectly legitimate secret mad science, but that doesn't  _float,_ buddy. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to put two and two together and come up with  _necromancy!_ "

"And we would know," Merle said. "I mean, not about the necromancy, that's pretty Lup-and-Barry-and-sometimes-Taako, but that other bit."

"Yeah," Magnus agreed. "We're all rocket scientists here. Well." He gestured to himself and Merle and Lup. "We are, anyway. And, I guess, it wasn't  _rocket_ science so much as--"

"I am going," Lup said with the preternatural calm Magnus knew meant she was about to engage in some real serious violence, "to set this entire lab on fire and turn it to ashy particulates if you do not tell me what is going on here  _right now,_ Lucas Miller."

Lucas slumped. "I'm sorry," he said. And then, instead of confessing--

He paralyzed them.

"I am going to absolutely murder that man," Killian said from her spot on the ground.

"That sounds like an idea I can get behind," Magnus said into the front of his helmet, where his face was currently squished. 

_Saved from the darkness by my child_

_Locked in a cage of glass and steel_

_But my true love remains in exile_

_Beckoning me to break the seal_

_Into this crystal kingdom_

 "Oh, are you-- Are you kidding me?" Lup growled, crumpled in one corner. "Is the crinkle tinkling being sung by  _Maureen?_ Is that idiot going to destroy the world on the way to bringing his mother back!"

"So much murder," Carey said.

"Well, well, well," a familiar voice drawled. "What have we here?"

" _All_ the murder," Merle agreed.

Taako's ridiculous black boots stalked passed them, the silver stilettos glinting in the low light of the med bay. He crouched by Magnus to knock on his helmet. "This is a bit of a fish in a barrel situation, isn't it? You dudes are terrible at this, y'know. It's nice seeing familiar faces, I guess, but come on! Taako  _lives_ for driving the competition into the dust. Gotta get that competition first, though."

"Once I get up," Killian growled, "you'll have way more than you can handle."

Taako's laugh rocked him back on his heels a little, though not so much that he fell over. "Cute," he said. "I like your attitude, fighter. Are you a fighter?" He shrugged. "Doesn't matter. Maybe we'll trade some blows later, after I'm done with my work here."

"Do not," Magnus said in a low, rough voice, "hurt her, Taako."

"You think I could do that? Little old me?" Taako spread a gloved hand over his chest. "I'm hurt, my guy. Deeply."

"Don't fuck with me on this, Taako," Magnus said, anger growing in his stomach. "This isn't game!"

"'Course not," Taako agreed, standing with a stretch. "It's a race." He tinkled one hand in a wave. "Tootles!"

"Weren't you just fighting Kravitz?" Merle grumbled. "He's cute, right, you could have taken your time!"

"Is that that cat's name?" Taako mused. "Kravitz? I like it. Anyway, ch'boy took care of that one."

"You killed--"

"Nah, dawg, he's a reaper. Can't really kill those. Did leave him playing in some mighty fine tentacles though." Taako laughed again. "Took him by surprise! Kind of like how finding all of you conveniently out of my way is taking me by surprise. Catch you thugs later!"

"Wait!" Lup tried to squirm around onto her back and couldn't quite. "Damn it, Lucas," she growled into Lucretia's Stone of Farspeech, "I am going to turn  you into  _ashes_ when I get out of this-- Taako, don't go," she continued, trying yet again to reason with him. "Something bad is here, worse than Lucas or the reaper or the Philosopher's Stone. We stand a better chance together!"

"Hmm. Bonus boss, huh?" Taako looked toward the door where Lucas had fled, something distant in his expression. Then he shrugged. "Eh. Bet I can handle him. Enjoy your continuing adventures in loserdom, though!"

"Taako!" Lup cried.

Taako left.

"Pan  _damn_ it!" She slammed a fist on the ground. "Lucas, you'd better let us out of these suits, or I swear on everything I love I'll--"

"Wait a minute, now, lemme see here--" Merle shut his eyes, lifting one hand to cast a Dispel. "Did that help you, Lup, or--"

Lup ran from the room, hot on Taako's heels.

"Well alright." Merle looked over at the others. "I guess that worked, then. Who's next?"

Magnus shook his head. "I'm not fast enough to catch her, Killian are you--"

"She can't go," Carey said. "Look, her helmet's broken, it cracked when she fell. I'm a rogue, though." Carey tapped a thumb against her own chest. "I can catch up."

"Okay but we're not trying to kill Taako," Magnus said. "He's-- There's." He blew a hard sigh through his nose. "It's complicated. We don't want him dead, we just want to sit on him a bit until he tells us what happened."

Kravitz picked that moment to come skidding into the room, face flushed, hair tumbling out of its tie. "Where?" he demanded, then spied the other door. "Got him." He sprinted out the other side.

"I won't kill him," Carey promised. "Can't guarantee what that guy'll do, though."

Merle cast Dispel.

Carey took a moment to check on Killian, wished her well with a lingering hug, then took off after the rest of them.

"Hey Killian?" Magnus called.

"Yeah, bud?"

"Since you can't come with us, can I get you to do me a favor?"

"Sure, what is it?"

He twisted around to look at her. "There's a family of bugbears hiding back a few corridors. Can you get them out to safety?"

"Those guys?" She nodded. "Sure, they seemed alright. We'll get out safe and meet you up top, okay?

"Okay," Magnus agreed.

Like it'd be that easy.

After Merle got the three of them back up, Magnus led him and NO-3113 down the hallway where the others had gone. They caught up with Lup, standing in front of a broken elevator, one leg propped on the metal door for leverage as she shook it while Carey watched her uncertainly.

"That asshole Blinked!" she shouted without stopping. "And Kravitz left me here to go after him!"

"Maybe they'll get distracted by their UST and we'll beat 'em to Lucas," Magnus suggested.

Lup let out an inarticulate screech.

Then, from above them, further up the blocked shaft, came a series of loud smashing noises. Magnus picked Lup up to back away as something utterly destroyed the hunk of metal in front of them.

It was Upsy, their lifting friend. Upsy took them down to the floor where Lucas was, which was a horrifying experience, and they ran into the disgruntled ghost of Jenkins, which was just stupid. 

After the fight, NO-3113--who was apparently a soul on a candle wick (and apparently Lup had known that all along and just for some reason not told anybody else)--used the spare robot parts to build herself a badass new fighting body, and that made the Upsy and Jenkins nonsense nearly worthwhile. Not actually worthwhile. But nearly.

(Noelle Redcheek was from Phandalin. She was one of the casualties of their first failure to stop Taako. Even after a hundred cycles of running, a decade on Faerun, Magnus still wasn't used to that feeling. Still hated it. The failure to protect. Noelle from Taako, Taako from...whatever it was that had happened to him, that was  _still_ happening to him. Magnus was a fighter, Head of Security for all that was left of the IPRE, a friend and brother and a guardian. And he was so tired of failure.)

"This is Lucas's plan," Lup said as the five of them made their way into the main experiment chamber. "The fuses, the robot bodies... This is how he's going to bring his mother back. We have to stop him. Because this here? This kind of unchecked, unregulated necromancy?" Her lips pursed. "It never ends well."

She was right, of course. 

The entire ceiling of the main experiment chamber was covered in a thick layer of crystallization, creeping out through the vents and into the stiff Candlenights breeze outside. It formed an enormous amethyst stalactite hanging at least nine feet down from the fifteen foot ceiling. Suspended in the amethyst was another robot, more humanoid that any they'd seen so far, looking eerily like a human woman. A bight soul-light gleamed from a fuse in her chest. In her right hand she held a large, silver disk made of a series of interlocking rings, each etched with an intricate pattern that kind of resembled circuitry, all leading to a small, bright, pulsing light in the center of the disk. 

In her left hand was the Philosopher's Stone.

About ten feet away from her was a large, circular pedestal, about three feet high, and floating above it is a mirror made of brilliant blue sapphire. The mirror showed an image of tens of thousands of floating white lights sailing over a giant lake filled with swirling rainbow-hued waters. As the lights floated, they occasionally interacted with each other, diving under the water, causing a ripple of light to move across the surface of the lake. 

"The Astral Plane," Lup breathed, eyes huge. "And is that... Look, in the middle of the lake! Is that the Eternal Stockade?" She shook her head, nearly dazed. "Barry was sure it existed, but I--" She laughed. "I guess I owe him for all those years making fun of him!"

"Maybe now's more the time to focus," Carey said. She pointed to the space between the mirror and the stalactite. "Looks like somebody beat us here."

Lucas was sprawled on the ground, unconscious, a hammer not far from his open hand.

"Tits," Magnus sighed.

Asshole or not, Magnus couldn't let Lucas die, not if there was another way. Not if it meant more blood on Taako's hands. He leapt down into the room, rushing over to Lucas to check his vitals.

Alive. Stunned, but otherwise okay. Merle touched a hand to Lucas's shoulder, helping him heal. Lucas's eyes fluttered open. It took him a moment to register who was crowded above him, but when he did, his eye went huge.

Magnus leaned over him. "As a scientist," he said, voice low and hard, "you have disappointed-- you have let down the concept of experimentation and science. You're a coward and I hate you."

Tears filled Lucas's eyes as he began sniffling. "I did it for my mother," he said. Then he told them the whole story: Using the Philosopher's Stone to create perfect mirrors for his mother's research, the cosmoscope that drove his mother insane, his work to build a conduit to hold a spirit and let that spirit control a robot body, the weeks it took to find her, and finally how wrong everything had gone once she was in the body he'd made for her.

"Lucas." Lup shook her head, just slightly, brow furrowed in what might have been frustration or regret. "Bud, we know." She pointed at herself with her thumb, then jerked that thumb to indicate Magnus and Merle. "We've had this figured out since pretty much the word go. You should have asked for help. We would have  _helped_ you."

Lucas looked skeptical. "You would have helped me bring my mother back from the Astral Plane?"

Magnus set a hand on Lucas's shoulder. "Is what you brought back really your mother?" he asked, not without a tug of compassion. If he could've brought back Julia--

He wouldn't have, though. She would've hated it.

Lucas looked back at the creature he'd built. His eyes filled with tears.

"This is some dangerous shit, my dude," Lup said. "You have  _no idea_ what you're messing with here."

"I think that's my line."

They looked over to find Kravitz looking back through the sapphire mirror. He'd added a black cloak over his outfit, billowing around him with the hood pushed back.

"Oh hey," Lup said with a wave. "When did you head back to the Astral Plane?"

"Lost Taako, huh?" Merle added with a teasing smirk.

"Isn't the cloak kind of cliché?" Magnus asked.

Carey elbowed him in the side. "You can't just ask people if their clothing is cliché, Mangus!"

He rubbed his ribs where she'd nailed him, looking concerned. "You can't?"

"It is not cliché!" Kravitz spluttered in the mirror. "I was wearing it  _first,_ that's how the look even started-- Listen, let's not get side-tracked."

"Were we on a track?" Merle wondered.

"I am a bounty hunter for the Raven Queen," Kravitz continued with determination. "Setting you three--four--aside for the moment, Lucas Miller, you've been found guilty of aiding in the escape of your deceased mother Maureen from the eternal stockade, where she was in prison for conspiring to escape back to the mortal world." He frowned at the quivering scientist. "Your mother was in prison, Lucas, and you can't break people out of prison."

"True," Lup said. "Mostly. Depending on the circumstances." She raised her hand. "I've personally been broken out of prison, like, seven times in four different planar systems."

"Can you let me get through this?" Kravitz demanded. Lup made a go-ahead motion. Kravitz pulled at his vest to straighten it. "I was assigned your family's bounty, Lucas, and I have to take you in." He pointed at NO-3113. "I might have to take you as well." He squinted at Lup. "Depending on circumstances."

She shot him a thumbs-up and a huge grin. 

Then, behind Kravitz in the mirror, Magnus noticed something...probably not good. A swarm of shimmering gray souls were pouring out of the narrow barred windows and doors of the Eternal Stockade. They gelled and morphed together to form a massive spectral hand that was slowly sneaking up on Kravitz, who didn't seem aware of it at all.

"Uh," Magnus said. "Kravitz, buddy, you might want to--"

"What did I say about  _please_ letting me  _finish this speech?"_  Kravitz said waspishly. "This is the most unprofessional bounty I've ever collected, do you know what my reputation--"

"No, really," Lup said, pointing behind him urgently. "You might want to--"

"--demoted! Do you know how embarrassing that would be? After centuries of--"

"Kravitz!" Merle shouted. "Turn around!"

"--some stupid crystal lab with its enormous un-reap-able bounties from a  _different planar system_ \--"

"He's kind of earned it at this point," Carey said to the others.

"--not to mention the unexpected addition of a wizard who... Well, I guess that part wasn't too bad. Really it was--"

" _Kravitz!"_  they all shouted together.

"WHAT!"

That was when the creeping hand slammed into him, pushing a surprised huff out of him before dragging him back into the Stockade.

And then the stalactite started to hum. The crinkle-tinkle music started again.

"Lucas!" Magnus whirled on him, grabbing his shirt when the other man cowered away. "What is this? This is the fourth time it's happened,  _what is it?_ "

"I don't know!" he cried. "I don't know!"

"Then you need to turn off that sapphire mirror  _now."_

"I-I can't," Lucas stammered. "I don't know how!"

"Not a real useful guy, are you?" Carey quipped, readying her daggers.

The singing started in earnest then, several new tones layered around the original voice.  

_Kept from our children, lovers, friends_

_Subject to laws we did not make_

_This is where separation ends_

_And souls of the lost will come awake_

_Enter this Crystal Kingdom_

 

"Well that's not ominous at all," Lup said.

A brilliant white beam of light shot out of the disk in robot Maureen's hand to pierce into the mirror. A swarm of the gray Stockade souls zipped across the Astral Plane to slam into the mirror. They started to burrow through, and as they breached through onto the Prime Material Plane, they started to meld together into a silvery goo that encased the mirror entirely. From that goo, a humongous skeletal form appeared. Roughly ten feet tall, it had two massive bony arms. Its torso rose up from out of the mirror to support a large shrouded skull. Inside the silvery substance that made up its form were faint faces, most of which seem to be locked in a grimace.

When the creature spoke, it sounded like a cacophony of overlapping voices. "Thank you, Maureen," they said. "Your job is done."

"It's all souls," Lup breathed, eyes enormous. "A  _legion_ of souls. This is...this is terribly wrong. We need to stop this, guys." She set her shoulders and called fire to her hands. "They need to go back where they came from  _now."_

"Well I was gonna fight it anyway," Magnus admitted, pulling Railsplitter off his back. "But if it's, like, world-saving too, that works."

"Will you join us in our cause to merge our worlds?" the legion asked. "We can find a way to be alive again!"

"That's a hard nope," Magus said, and charged forward.

Sixteen of the souls split off to inhabit a pile of discarded robots. Carey and NO-3113 immediately peeled off to handle those while Magnus, Lup, and Merle focused on the soul monster. The one-two combo of Merle's holy power and Magnus's brute strength, followed up with Lup's incinerating fire, seemed ready to put the legion back in its place without much fuss.

Behind them, Shatter rocked through the Maureen stalactite, cracking it right down the center. It crashed into the ground, freeing Maureen's robot body. She immediately turned to protect her son from the legion, sucking all the creeping crystal back into the Philosopher's Stone first. It looked like she might actually be able to shut the fight down.

Which was when Taako dropped his invisibility spell, cut off Maureen's arm, and took the Philosopher's Stone.

Maureen made a shocked little sound. Lucas screamed, trying to run over to her. The legion roared and attacked the trio.

Taako cast Shatter again, in a much higher spell slot, and blew the mirror apart. The fragments whipped out through the room, taking out two of the remaining robots but also slamming into Lup's helmet, cracking the mask into a spiderweb of fractures.

"Way to go, dungus!" she shouted, yanking her helmet off. She blew a lock of hair out of her face--shorter than Taako's but the same color, the same texture--to glare at him with the same eyes, from the same face. "What if I need that later?" 

Taako took a half-step back, pale as winter. Then he flushed with anger. "What the fuck?" he demanded. "What's the point of  _this?"_

Lup blinked. "Uh...?"

"I'm not gonna give you the rock just because you made yourself look like me!"

"She didn't do it on purpose," Magnus complained, stilled locked in battle with what remained of the ghost legion. It was an interesting fight, but nowhere near Power Bear levels. "You've always looked the same, that's how identical twins  _work._ "

"I--" Taako's ears flattened under their veiled protection. "...Twins? But that's not-- No. I grew up alone."

The legion took a swipe at Merle, who raised a hand to Banish it with an annoyed expression. "We're trying to have a conversation here," he said as the souls dissipated back to the Astral Plane.

Lucas, still on the ground, now being supported by his one-armed mother robot, stared at Merle with something akin to shock. "Who  _are_  you guys?"

Merle pointed at him. "Hold your horses, buddy, we're going through somethin' important. Taako's got some emotions he's gotta--"

Even under the veil, Magnus could see how quickly Taako's expression hardened. "Don't talk like you know me, short stack. You don't know  _shit."_

"Well, now, that ain't quite right," Merle said with an apologetic smile. "We've been through a lot together, and that makes people pretty close."

"I don't think losing out on a couple of Relics makes us  _close,"_  Taako snapped.

"Not talkin' about that," Merle said. "Talkin' about before we came here. Before this--" He gestured around dismissively. "--system. We had a hundred cycles of runnin' to get to know each other, and that leaves a mark. You don't remember us, but you  _know_ us, Taako." He thumped a hand on his chest. "Here where it matters, deep down. You know us, son."

"You three are  _crazy,"_ Taako said, tucking the Philosopher's Stone up his sleeve. "And you!" He pointed at Lup. "Next time I see you, you'd better not be wearing my face!"

"I was born first, dingus," she said, digging into a pocket in her null suit. "So it's  _my_ face that  _you_ copied."

"I did not--!" Taako spluttered.

Lup threw a fist-sized bundle to Taako, who caught it reflexively. He looked at it suspiciously, then at Lup, then back at the bundle. "It's not gonna bite you," she said, rolling her eyes.

Taako untied the top of the bundle, unfolding what turned out to be a bandanna to reveal four brightly colored macarons. "Cookies?" he asked, sounding perplexed. 

"Your favorite," she said with a wink. "For Candlenights. Not as good as yours, though. You're more of a baker than I am. I'll whip up Auntie's special turkey dinner once you make it back to us." She grinned at him. "Accept no substitutes."

Taako's breathing began to hitch. He shook his head, using both hands to wrap the macarons back in their cloth. For a moment, it looked like he would say something. Then he vanished, not in that strange pulse of unfamiliar magic but in a regular, everyday Blink.

Lup sagged a little, wiping a hand down her face. "At least he took the cookies," she said, mostly to herself.

Magnus patted her back. "We're a step closer now, for sure."

"What is going on?" Lucas asked weakly.

"I'd like to know the same thing, actually." A rift opened off to side, large enough for Kravitz to step through. He'd switched from a mortal appearance to something spookier, more...professional for him, maybe? His hood was up, the cloak longer, fuller, more ragged, all over a bone-white skeletal form with burning red eyes.

"Here on business?" Magnus quipped.

Even without eyes, Kravitz managed a fearsome glare. "I owe you for Legion," he said, somewhat reluctantly. "If that thing had managed to build a permanently portal between these planes-- Well." He glanced around at them. "Apparently, I don't have to tell this particular group how bad that would be." All of them, even Lucas's robot mother, shuddered. "That's fucking  _weird,_ by the way," Kravitz complained. "Why do you all know so much about-- No. Y'know what?" He held up both skeletal hands. "Later. Right now, first things first." He pointed at Maureen. "You can't stay here."

"I know," she agreed. "I'll come quietly, but please, my son-- Forgive him." She squeezed Lucas's shoulder. "Give him another chance to do good in this world."

"Hey, NO-3113 should get to stay too," Carey chimed in. "She's amazing. And technically she didn't break out of the Astral Plane, she was dragged over."

"Not forever," NO-3113 promised. "There's just some...some things I feel I gotta do, before I cross over, now that I remember what happened to me. I gotta make sure it can't happen to anyone else, or I just won't be able to rest, I know I won't."

"Maybe this can be a reward," Lup suggested. "A couple of stays, for how hard we rocked it tonight."

Kravitz sighed, deep and long. As he did, his form filled out, changing back to the handsome man who'd fought earlier. "Well," he said, "since what you said checked out with the Raven Queen, and you've never actually died in  _this_ planar system, or checked in with any Astral Plane anywhere, technically, you're not in my jurisdiction. And I  _guess_ I can let you have Lucas and NO-3113, for a few years, until they're ready." He jabbed a finger in their direction. "But  _only_ as a thank you for taking care of that enormous monster. This kind of leniency will not be repeated, do you understand?"

"Of course," Merle said, managing to make genuine agreement sound like sarcasm.

Kravitz narrowed his eyes, then shrugged. "Okay then. That takes my to-do list down to just two items." He turned toward Maureen. "Are you ready to go?" he asked with unexpected kindness.

"No," Lucas said weakly. "Don't go, please--"

Maureen caught Lucas's reaching hand in hers, bringing it up to rest against the glass containing her soul instead of the robot's face. "I know this seems unfair," she murmured, "but it's really not that bad over there. As dour as this sounds, we'll see each other again, someday."

Magnus turned away to give them a moment to say their goodbyes and found Lup sidling closer to Kravitz. 

"So what is it?" she asked lowly.

Kravitz arched an eyebrow at her.

She nudged his elbow with hers. "The second chore. What is it?"

His cheeks darkened with a faint blush. "It, uh." He cleared his throat. "Just...checking an inconsistency."

"It's not his fault," Magnus said immediately. They both looked over at him, so he shrugged. "You're talking about Taako, right? How it's weird that we know about our deaths and he doesn't?"

"He denied ever having died at all," Kravitz agreed. That blush rose again. "Most emphatically."

Magnus chuckled. "Yeah, that sounds like him. But it's not that simple." He tried to make Kravitz understand how dire their situation was through a look alone. "There's a creature on our base on the moon that can erase memories. You must have noticed how suddenly all those wars ended? Taako lost his memories of us--of himself--at the same time. He lost a lot of himself in the process. This Taako, he's--"

Lup took over when he couldn't find a good way to describe it. "He's harder," she said. "Taako's always been a shit, but the way he is now... It's like he's never known anything good, anything kind, in the life he has now." She shook her head. "I'm worried about him."

"We all are," Merle agreed, touching her hand. Lup looked down with a sniffle.

"What I don't understand is why," Kravitz said. "Why make people forget things? Why take his memories? I need to know. I have to have something to tell the Raven Queen about what's going on here."

"That's a long story," Lup said. "It's... Listen, how about we start with this? Ask the Raven Queen if she's ever heard of the Light of Creation." She shrugged. "That's where this all really starts. The Light, and the Hunger that chases it."

Kravitz looked between the three of them, studying their faces, searching for honestly. At last, he nodded. "Alright. And Taako?" he prompted. "What should I do with him, if I see him again?"

Magnus, Merle, and Lup all began to aggressively wiggle their eyebrows.

Kravitz blushed deeply and smacked a hand over his own face. "That's not what I meant," he huffed. 

"You sure?" Lup asked. "My little bro was really rockin' that skinsuit, if you ask me."

"Ew." Merle said.

"No, it's true," Magnus agreed. "Like, objectively, he pulled it off. The silver-on-black theme's a little bland for him, but, like, extra points for the veil/hair net combo, I really liked that."

Kravitz blinked. "It's not silver," he said. "You can't feel the resonance?"

Magnus looked to the others, who seemed just as surprised as he felt. "...What?"

"It's not silver," he stressed. "It's enchanted mithral.  _Heavily_  enchanted."

"Where the fuck did that goofus get enchanted mithral?" Lup shrieked, shoulders right up by ears lifted high in shock. "I've seen maybe  _a_ mithral coin in my  _life!"_

"That's part of my curiosity," Kravitz admitted. "I don't see how he could have found it all on his own, so doesn't that imply a supplier?"

"Did you recognize the stone?" Merle asked, touching his own chest about where the stone usually hung on Taako--when they could see it. "I'm a beach dwarf, don't really got the stone sense of the mountain lines. I'm pretty sure I've never seen it before though."

Kravitz shook his head. "No. It's got a strange feeling. It's also definitely enchanted, but I just...I can't tell how, or why. It's going to drive me absolutely mad if I can't figure it out."

"Well then," Lup said, hands on her hips. "I guess there's no choice. You'll just  _have_ to go find him and ask. What a shame!"

"A real trial," Magnus snickered in agreement.

Merle rolled his eyes. "Subtle," he said.

"I'll just have to do my best," Kravitz said with a soft laugh. He turned toward the Millers, holding one hand out. "Are you ready?"

Lucas clutched his mother's robot body in a crushing hug, then gently opened the glass compartment holding her soul. She floated out, looping his head once, and fluttered over to Kravitz. The reaper cradled her in his hands as though she were something precious. 

"It won't be so bad," he murmured to her, opening a rift back to his plane. "There's lot of reformation programs. You'll be out in no time." Maureen glowed bright in his hands, and they passed through to the other side together.

"Kravitz!" Magnus called, right before the rift closed.

The reaper looked back.

"Tell Julia I love her."

"I will," Kravitz promised. Then the rift closed. They were gone.

"Well," Magnus said in the deep silence they left behind, punctuated by Lucas's sniffling. He touched a finger to the tip of his nose. "Nose goes for telling Lucy about all this."

Merle and Lup rushed to touch their own noses, each batting at the other's hand to try and knock it aside. "Age before beauty!" Lup cried.

"You are an  _elf!"_  Merle shouted back, hanging from her elbow. "Not  _one_ of us knows how old you actually are!"

Soon after, it dissolved into a wrestling match.

"...Are you sure you want to join up?" Carey asked NO-3113.

"Why wouldn't she?" Magnus asked, finger still on his nose.

"I think I'll like it just fine," NO-3113 said warmly.

That, at least, ended up being true.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up: The Red String Interlude I. It's short and not part of the direct sequence of TAZ events so I'm gonna post it on Friday :D *scuttles away*


	6. The Red String Interlude I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm having a rough day at work so here! Have some goopy boys being helplessly and instantly in love :D Not even [SPOILER REDACTED] can derail their romance~♥

When Kravitz found Taako, he was sitting in a clearing in the middle of the Felicity Wilds. Now that they'd met, the elf wasn't hard to find. The stone he wore, the mithral, his magic, all of it resonated in a distinct enough way that Kravitz could have found him in the heart of Neverwinter.

His soul, too, was...distinctive.

Taako sat on a fallen log at the edge of the clearing, facing toward a small, deep pool of water fed by a low waterfall. He had taken off his veil and hair net, setting them beside him on the log. An unexpected volume of sun-gold hair spilled in soft waves over his shoulders and down his back, nearly long enough to brush the bark he sat on. The ears parting his hair were low and flared forward, a generally sad position. Taako's whole posture was sad: his shoulders were slumped, his back curved, his chin tucked in toward his chest. His elbows were propped on his knees so he could stare pensively at something cradled in a kerchief in his hands.

...Were those macarons?

Kravitz tried to ease around the edge of the clearing to a better vantage point. He thought he'd been pretty stealthy, but one of Taako's ears snapped up, swiveling in his direction. Taako straightened and turned, ears up high in alarm, and Kravitz saw him clearly for the first time.

Reapers weren't alive. They didn't have beating hearts or rushing blood or working lungs. Kravitz's body was a construct, a tool based on a memory used to interact with the living.

Then Taako's amber eyes met Kravitz's, and the reaper felt his heart jolt.

The wizard had been such a challenge back at the Miller lab, such an unexpected puzzle, so much  _fun,_ to be frank, that Kravitz hadn't taken time to wonder what he looked like under the makeshift magical null ensemble. That was just as well, as it turned out, because nothing Kravitz could have imagined would have lived up to the reality.

Taako was  _lovely._

"Aren't you persistent," Taako drawled, setting his macarons aside so he could stand. He propped one hand on his cocked hip. "It's a little clingy of you, babe. People might talk."

Kravitz clasped his hands behind his back, doing his best interpretation of a casual stroll across the clearing. "People always talk, darling. I thought you knew."

Taako's expression didn't change, but one ear sunk down in apparent confusion. It was strangely charming, how a wizard of such power and cunning could be sold out by the honesty of his own ears. "You here for a rematch?" he asked.

"No." Kravitz lifted one shoulder in a shrug. "It might not have been your intent, but you did help me back there, and I was never at the lab for that stone you took. My interest is in rogue souls, not magical items. We aren't quite finished though," he mused. "Are we?"

"I can't think of anything we left undone," Taako said, following the words with a smirk. "Unless you came here to start up something  _else_ , something...maybe a little more fun."

Kravitz chuckled. "We both know you can't get up to fun, not while you're wearing that stone."

Taako's whole body flinched, forcing him a step back as one hand lifted to the stone and his ears twisted back anxiously. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"I propose that  _you_ don't know what I'm talking about," Kravitz said softly. "And that seems to be the case rather across the board, doesn't it? You don't know people who clearly know you. You don't know about those deaths in my bounty book. You know that stone holds sway over you, but you don't know how or why."

"I said yes to this stone," Taako protested hotly. "It wasn't a trick or whatever you're thinking. I'm not an  _idiot_. Consent to this? It can't be taken. I knew what it was and I said yes on purpose and I'm still good with it, homie. This stone is the only piece of protection I've ever had!"

"And what," Kravitz asked, "is it protecting you from? Who is on the other side of that power, and what does that being call you?"

"Things  _you_ don't know," Taako sneered.

Kravitz lifted his open palms with a smile, conceding the point. "All the same," he murmured. 

Taako broke eye contact first, looking away. Looking back toward the macarons.

Hm.

"Tell you what," Kravitz said, clapping his hands as though that could clear the air. "I'm a fan of bets and deals."

"Color me surprised," Taako said with an exaggerated eye roll. 

"It's a cliché for a reason," Kravitz agreed. "So! I will take your name from my book, clear your bounty. And in exchange--" He used a rift to pop across the clearing and scoop up Taako's macarons. "--you give me these."

"What!" Taako cried, taking an abortive step forward. "No, you can't have--"

"Why not?" Kravitz challenged. "You told me those guys back there were liars, that they meant nothing to you, told me in no uncertain terms to never affiliate your name with theirs again." He lifted the macarons by the bundled corners of their aggressively holiday-patterned kerchief. "If they don't matter to you, surely these cookies won't either. Why not trade them for your freedom?"

Taako didn't have an answer, or at least not one he was willing to voice. He dropped his gaze, hands clenched into tight fists at his side.

"If nothing else," the reaper murmured, walking over to take Taako's hand and set the macarons in his palm, "spend some time thinking about why your heart wants these ordinary cookies a stranger made so badly. I don't know all of what's going on, Taako, but I have to believe you wouldn't react this way if there wasn't something  _more_ here. So think about it." He dared to stroke a finger down Taako's cheek. "Okay?"

For a long moment, Taako didn't move. He held his cookies, and searched for something in Kravitz's eyes, and looked so lost that Kravitz just wanted to do the impossible. Save him, or hide him away, or help him find whatever he was missing. Then Taako blinked, and the moment was gone. He smirked. "So if I'm not getting my name out of that book with cookies," he said, tying the bundle to the mithral shawl wrapped around his waist, "what  _can_ I pay with?" He laid one hand on Kravitz's chest. "I'm sure we can think of  _something."_

As doubtlessly amazing as Taako's suggestion sounded, Kravitz had a better idea. He set his right hand on Taako's waist, took Taako's right hand in his left, and grinned at Taako's shock. "How about a dance?"

A beautiful blush rose in Taako's cheeks. "Be serious!" he demanded.

"I am wild," Kravitz said on a laugh, already starting to move in a basic box step. "Come on, play with me."

"There isn't even any music," Taako protested, even as he let Kravitz lead him around the clearing.

"Not to worry," Kravitz said, lifting his arm to spin Taako in a twirl before pulling him back in close. "I was a bard, once." His grin stretched into a warm smile, nearly nose to nose with Taako, taking as much pleasure in Taako's absentminded grace as he did in the elf's reluctant curiosity. "I can improvise."

Kravitz started out by humming, an old melody from a by-gone age. As their dance picked up, he added layers to his song, lyrics and the remembered hint of string quartets, one waltz leading into another until Taako was whiling across the forest with him, laughing in unrestrained delight under a curtain of silver starlight. All sense of time faded. Finally, at last, Kravitz let the melody fade, and bent Taako into a low dip.

They breathed together, sharing air and joy, sharing  _themselves,_  more entwined in a single evening than Kravitz had felt with anyone else since the Raven Queen. Then Taako's gaze darted down to Kravitz's lips, and Kravitz felt his quiet heart start to race.

"I feel something," Taako murmured, voice soft and a little hoarse.

"I feel it too," Kravitz admitted.

"Oh, no, I--" Taako stood, pressing his hands on Kravitz's chest to make some space. "I mean." He touched the red and black rock strung around his neck. "My stone, it's-- I'm being called." He looked up at Kravitz through his eyelashes. "I have to go."

Kravitz felt a bitter sting of disappointment that he beat down immediately. He took Taako's hand, giving it a lingering kiss. Taako's breath caught audibly. "Happy Candlenights, Taako," the reaper said. "Thank you for the dance."

"Yeah," Taako murmured. "Back at you." He cleared his throat, withdrawing his hand so he could collect his veil and hair net. "Uh, I guess it'd be bad form to say  _see you next time?_ "

"As long as next time is for another dance," Kravitz said, "and not another death. You must take better care of yourself, Taako."

Taako opened his mouth, closed it. He swallowed hard, and then was gone, snatched away by whatever gave him the stone.

It was more time than Kravitz had thought he'd have. A lovely night, finer than Kravitz had seen in centuries.

"Unexpected," he said into the empty clearing. He found himself grinning. "Unexpected," he said again, and cut a rift into the Astral Plane.

His Queen would be wanting a  _full_  report.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will still be up on Monday. It's The 11th Hour from Lup's perspective, feat. Taako who is trapped in there with them! And it's, uh. Long! It's long. They all just get progressively longer from here. Except the other two interludes, those're short. Sorry not sorry!


	7. The Temporal Chalice

The Hunger's scouts arrived. It was kind of inevitable, once the fragments of the Light started to come back together. Lucretia had had an original plan for this moment, back when she first started to build toward her final spell. She swore she'd been ready, that she never would have sent them all away without certainty of success.

Of course, her plan had never taken into account that they'd have a rival in gathering the Relics. That the rival would be Taako. And that he would be  _way better_ at collecting them than the members of Lucretia's B.o.B.

"Do we have a working plan?" Lup asked. After a few days of rest and recovery following that whole Miller lab thing, the IPRE crew gathered in Lucretia's office. Lup had opted to sit across Barry's lap rather than in her own chair, natch. Despite their best efforts, the mood was...a little grim.

"No," Lucretia admitted.

"We need to be realistic about this," Davenport said. "If we can't get the Light together, we don't have any way of cutting off or blocking or attacking or doing anything to the Hunger during this cycle. We have to be prepared to leave."

"This isn't just another cycle," Magnus protested. "We've made friends here. Are you just going to leave them behind? Angus and Avi and Killian and Carey and Johann and--! You're just going to  _leave them?"_

"I know it's hard, bud," Davenport said. "What other choice do we have?"

Magnus sat forward, frustration tight in his face. "This is the plane where I loved Julia. This is the planar system where her  _soul_ is. If I can't live here, die here, go to that Astral Plane? I will never. See my wife again." He shook his head. "That's not happening, Davenport. I don't care what we have to do, we're saving this system."

"We might not have a  _choice,"_  their captain reiterated. "I'm not going to die here, Mags, and if I go on the Starblaster, you know you'll be there too."

"I don't want that." Magnus clenched his fists hard on the armrests of his chair. "I don't want to leave her here to be consumed."

"I got kids, Cap'nport," Merle reminded him softly. "Are you going to throw the towel in on them so soon?"

"I'm not saying this to be mean," Barry added, arms wrapped tight around Lup's waist, "but I've about had my fill of having my choices made for me when it comes to how we fight the Hunger."

"I never meant," Lucretia began to protest.

"We know, babe," Lup said. "Best of intentions aside, though, it happened. We have to deal with it now." She twisted to face Davenport, trying to communicate her resolve through expression alone. "I don't think leaving's an option. It's been too long, we're too invested."

"I'm willing to try whatever we can to get the Relics," Davenport said, lifting one hand in placation. "I'm not saying we load up and leave  _today._  Let's fight this out as long and as far as we can. I just need you all to know: Running from John? Staying ahead of the Hunger? Living to fight another day and save other systems?" He shrugged. "That's my mission. As we all now know, it's the core of who I am. If it comes down to a meaningful final stand with a side-order of defeat or taking the Starblaster with or without your approval, that isn't going to be a difficult decision for me."

"So then we just gotta win," Magnus said. "Okay. I think we can do that."

"...Any ideas how?" Lup asked.

He nodded. "I know where the Temporal Chalice is."

Lup sat up. "What? Where? Why haven't you told us!"

"It's gonna be a little hard to get to." He looked down, something like regret in his eyes. "I left it with people I thought would be strong enough to resist the thrall. When Taako first started showing up, after I got my memories back, I went down to check on them." His mouth pulled into a tight line. "On Refuge. But--" He shook his head. "These damned Relics. Something went wrong.  _Really_ wrong. The whole town seems to be stuck in some kind of--" He made a complicated series of hand gestures. "I don't know. A time bubble? Nothing, as far as I could see, can get in or out. It's one of the reasons I didn't bring it up earlier," he admitted. "I don't know how  _we're_ gonna get in or out. I don't know if time there is faster or slower or what." One corner of his mouth tried to lift in a smile. "Good news on that one: At least Taako can't beat us there."

"Unless whatever he's collecting the Relics for has the mad skills to get through a time bubble," Lup pointed out.

"If we don't try and stay positive about this stuff," Merle said, "we're never gonna make it through the other end. We gotta try, guys. We might as well try, right?" He leaned over to nudge Davenport, smiling until the gnome sighed, rolled his eyes, and gave two thumbs-up. "There we go! So, who all's goin' this time?" He looked around. "Any volunteers?"

"It was my Relic," Magnus said immediately. "I have to go."

"Taako's my brother," Lup added. "If he shows up, I'm gonna be there too." She also gave Merle a thumbs-up. "Stayin' posi, right? It might work this time."

"Guess I'll go too," Merle said. "Just to keep the usual team together. Anyone else?" he offered.

"Lucretia and I are still working on her spell," Barry said. "If we're gonna need it, we'll have to be sure it works. And not," he stressed to her, "to sever all this world's bonds. That'd kill us just as sure as the Hunger catching up."

"We'll work on it," Lucretia said without agreeing.

"Go on without me," Davenport said. "I want to work with Avi and the cannons. I think they can be more precise. Also," he said, more thoughtfully, "there might be a way to use them to get through the time bubble. We'll figure it out."

"Team Usual it is," Lup said. She stood with a stretch. "Let's start putting some research together before we just run out on a whim. You'll let us know when we're ready to get all up in that bubble?" she asked Davenport.

He nodded. "I don't anticipate much of a challenge," he said. "If we didn't know what was causing it, maybe. But knowing it's the Chalice? Plan on leaving within the next day or so."

Lup clapped her hands together. "Excellent. You know what this means, don't you?" When everyone but Barry looked confused, she punched a fist in the air. "Summer looks, baby!"

Later, down in the Woven Gulch, it turned out that Davenport and Avi's idea was just another cannon, aimed point-blank at the bubble's weakest frequency.

Lup opened her mouth.

"Stayin' posi!" Magnus said, wiggling both raised thumbs.

Lup shut her mouth. "Well okay then," she said. Before they could climb in their death ball, they were attacked by a bunch of enormous worms.

"Wait!" Magnus cried, leaping between their crew and the worms when Lup gathered an attack for a bit of catharsis. He flung his arms out. "Hold your fire!"

"What?" Lup demanded, hurling her attack into the sky to prevent it from setting Magnus ablaze. "Why!"

He flailed a hand behind him at the squalling purple worms. "We can't fight these, they're  _babies."_

"What," Lup and Merle said in unison.

"Purple worms are  _gargantuan,"_ he explained. "Like a bunch of trains all bound up and attached back to front."

Lup looked at the worms, three of them, not one as long as she was tall. "Aw," she said, scratching her head. "We can't fight baby worms, but we  _do_ need to make them clear the area, Mags. It's probably not safe for them here once Cap'nport and Avi get us going in that cannonball."

"Good point," Magnus agreed. He set about trying to shoo the wormlings without causing them harm, using his shield to deflect their fumbling, kind of adorable attacks.

"I wonder where mama is," Merle said, helping Avi pass the time by writing  _Jägerbomb_  on the side of their eventual metal transport.

"She can't be far," Lup said as she leaned against the ball, watching Magnus lead the babies away like a weirdo Pied Piper. "They probably just got a little lost."

"All done," Magnus said, jogging back with a smile. "I'm ready when you are!" They climbed in, waiting for Davenport and Avi to shoot them on their way. "Looking at the positive," he continued, punching one hand through the air to play with the momentum charm, "at least we're finally gonna beat Taako!"

In the empty seat beside Lup, someone chuckled.

"Aw, shit," Merle sighed.

"Here we go!" Avi shouted. 

Everything went very, very fast. Taako's Invisibility broke with his concentration as he clung to his stolen seat. Lup pushed through the charm and the velocity to grab his hand. In a testament to how mentally unprepared for this particular trip he'd been, he let her.

It didn't sound like speed, not like rushing wind or whistling air. It sounded like the ocean, waves rolling in. The roar was indescribably loud. Lup shut her eyes against it, hand locked tight with Taako's. Everything went white. Then everything stopped.

When Lup opened her eyes, they were no longer in the cannon ball. The gulch, Davenport, Avi--all of it was gone, replaced by a uniformly white space. Inside the space it was a very old woman holding a familiar silver cup, large and ornate.

"It's you," she said on a gasp, meeting the eyes of each of them in turn. She lingered longest on Taako before moving finally to Lup. "Find me."

Lup woke up. She was laying on the ground. A quick glance around showed all the others in a similar state. Taako's hand was still tight in hers, even though he wasn't conscious yet. Lup laid back down to mirror Taako, slightly curled on her left side. As she watched, studying his face with an ache in her heart, Taako's eyes began to flutter. He woke up and for just a moment, they watched each other, eye to eye, cheeks pressed against warm red clay. While Taako was still half-conscious, open and unsure, he searched her face curiously. Something unbearably sad curved his mouth down.

He lifted his free hand as though he would touch her, maybe draw his fingers through her hair, cut so much shorter than his and all piled on one side. Or maybe he'd trace her nose, her cheeks, identical to his in all ways.

Then he woke up properly.

Taako jerked away with a scowl, tumbling back and flipping onto his feet. He brushed off his own summer look: a black one-piece halterneck so aggressively sleeveless it left most of his collarbones bared. This one was short-shorts too, all of it covered by a sheer black poncho that shimmered when he moved, either through the most even dusting of glitter Lup had ever seen or thin silver thread woven seamlessly into the fabric. Well.

It looked silver to her. She wondered if this was yet another instance where Kravitz would look at Taako and say  _enchanted_   _mithral_ _._

At least this time he wasn't wearing stilettos. He'd switched to a practical chunky heel on folded down ankle booties. In deference to the heat, his long hair was braided on top, then all pulled up in a high ponytail.

He definitely rocked the look. He just didn't look like himself.

"You wanna tell us how you pulled this one off?" Magnus asked, more curious than upset. "We were so sure we'd beat you to it this time!"

Taako flapped a hand dismissively, making the bracelets on that arm jangle. "I've had eyes on this spot for months. As soon as you goobers started setting up base, it was only a matter of Greater Invisibility and Blinking at the right moment."

"Where did you learn all this magic?" Lup asked, trying not to let her frustration leak through. Merle tried to signal her to stop pushing, but she kept on anyway. "You should have forgotten your magic when you forgot me, so what is going on with that!"

Taako tossed his head to make his ponytail swing. "You dumbfucks feel free to stay here and ponder that, 'k? Taako's got a thing to find."

"You don't know what you're here for?" Merle asked, surprised.

As he walked away, Taako lifted both hands in a shrug. "I'll know it when I see it."

"Score," Magnus muttered to the others as they trailed behind Taako. "Not only do I know what it is, I remember who I gave it to. We're already way ahead here!"

"I think we need to stop congratulating ourselves so early," Lup said barely ten minutes later, when all four of them had been locked in a cell by Roswell, the deputy sheriff who was also a combination of bird and enormous red clay earth elemental.

"You just  _had_ to sneak around," Merle sighed at Taako, who was inspecting the walls, bars, ceiling, and floor for weaknesses.

"Shit doesn't go bad for me like this when you assholes aren't around," the elf grumbled. He bent down to eye the keyhole on their cell door. "I'm actually really good at this."

"Good at what?" Magnus asked.

Taako whipped around to glare at him so fast, his hair smacked Merle across the face. "Don't with me right now, okay? I'm trying to figure a way out of here."

"Why don't you just Blink?" Lup demanded. "We all know you can do that."

"And make Big Red suspicious? Pss." He straightened with his hands on his hips. "The name of this game is  _subtlety._ I don't need a fanclub here."

"Jeezy creezy," Lup muttered, feeling almost hysterical with disbelief as she dropped her face into her hands. "I can't believe I'm hearing you say that.  _You."_

"It's not all Sunburst and Whirlwind, you know." He kept one hand on his hip and tapped the other forefinger against the lock with a thoughtful expression. "I'm multidimensional!"

"What're you thinkin' there, bud?" Merle asked, hopping off the lower bunk to take a closer look at what had caught Taako's attention.

"Hmm. Just a splash of Disintegrate."

"That's a  _sixth level spell,"_  Lup groaned. "How do you know your sixth level--"

"Is that worth wasting a sixth level spell slot on?" Magnus wondered, joining Merle at Taako's back.

"Haven't decided," Taako admitted.

"If you're going to break out, then I don't get why you wouldn't just Blink," Merle said. "It's the  _breaking out_ that's flashy, who cares about the how?"

"Disappearing out of a cell has to be magic," Taako said, taking a step back to reassess. "A dissolved lock could just be acid. I like to keep the magic stuff hush-hush as long as I can."

Lup threw her hands in the air. "You're concerned about magic but not the ability to somehow smuggling acid into a jail cell after having all your stuff confiscated!"

"Because it's not as suspicious," Taako insisted.

"Where would you even hide it?"

"Up my ass," he snapped. "I'm not here for twenty questions!"

"You don't even know what you're here for," Magnus pointed out.

"I will know it," he hissed, eyes narrowed at them each in turn, "when I  _see it._ I am  Fantasy mother fucking Indiana Jones, and I  _know artifacts,_ alright? Now help me find a way out or get off my dick about it!"

"You gerblins sure are loud," came a drawling voice from the other cell. "First you cause Roswell trouble, then you just chatter up talkin' 'bout all kinds-a things to make even more trouble."

"I've been learning some rogue skills," Magnus said without acknowledging the other prisoner. "I could try to--"

Taako shushed him before shoving him aside. He pitched his voice to be so friendly it made Lup's skin crawl. "Hail and well met, stranger," he called. "My name's Taako. Who're you?"

"Well now I'm Cassidy, it's mighty neighborly of you to ask."

"Cassidy," Taako repeated, tone warm like he was smiling even as his expression didn't change. "What're you in for?"

"I’ve been falsely accused, y'all. I’m locked up here. They said I blew up the temple. I don’t blow up any damn temples, I blow up the earth! I get out those diamonds from under ‘em. Best there ever was, that’s sure as shit true. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it."

"That sounds unfair," Taako said. "I, for one, absolutely believe you."

"Well thank you, little gerblin, I sure do appreciate it."

"I bet they don't even have any evidence!"

"Evidence?" she asked, sounding confused.

"Not even a little proof," he continued as though she'd agreed.

"Y'know, gerblin, that's the truth! I think I like you, you're alright."

"Well we like you too, Cassidy," Magnus cut in. He ignored the way Taako began slapping his shoulder. "Say, what can you tell us about Sheriff Isaak? Has he been sheriff long? Didn't there used to be a different guy? Guy with a kid? Any of this sounding familiar?"

"You're newcomers," Cassidy said, sounding suspicious now. "How'd you know about Jack and June?"

"Listen," Taako said loudly over whatever Magnus tried to explain, but the rapport was broken.

Also, that was when the small earthquake happened, which damaged the surrounding area just enough that, apparently, Taako felt safe using his magic to knock a hole in the wall. He was gone before they could grab him, both middle fingers raised high.

"Pan damn it!" Lup howled, trying to scramble through the hole after him. "That squirmy little shit, I'm gonna--"

"Cassidy's gone too," Magnus reported. He boosted Lup further up Taako's exit.

"Anybody could beat us to the Chalice now," Merle said, hiking up the rubble pile after Lup.

"I don't think he's gonna beat us," Magnus said, pulling up the tail end of their escape train. "He doesn't even know what we're looking for. Not only do I know what, I know who."

"Jack and June?" Lup guessed, catching Merle when he tripped on the other side and helping him get steady.

"Thanks, kid," he said, then looked around. "Well, we saw how good just askin' went, maybe we can try to help out first. Ingratiate ourselves a little with the locals, then figure out what happened to those guys."

"That's a great idea," Magnus agreed.

Lup wanted to go after her brother, but he was already long gone. So, yeah, okay, maybe helping was their best bet. 

In the process of trying to explain to Roswell that they only escaped to aid in the earthquake recovery, the bank exploded. Magnus rushed in, with Lup hot on his heels, Merle after her, and Roswell after him.

Taako was down.

When they went to offer help, he must have beelined straight for the bank. Which made since, if he knew the Relic was valuable but not much else about it. But people were on fire, and the bank was crumbling, and Taako was  _down._

Lup rush to him, pinned under chunks of falling ceiling, trying to pull him out and over even as she screamed for Merle. Taako met her eyes, blood bubbling in his throat so that he couldn't speak. But the way he looked at her, the spark of recognition as he faded in her arms, didn't really need words. They never had.

"Don't you leave me," Lup sobbed, curled over Taako as the bank burned around them. "Don't you leave me here alone again."

Somewhere out beyond them, the clock tower began to strike noon.

Roswell was fighting a group of humans. Merle was trying to help some of the trapped bank tellers. Magnus had his shield up, was using it to protect wounded citizens. Lup was with Taako.

Taako was dead.

Lup heard herself screaming, but only from a distance.

The building began to collapse around them. Magnus and Merle tried to get to her, but they were too late.

Another tremor started.

As the clock outside the ruined bank tolled for the twelfth time, she could hear people shouting, the chaos of fear, and the whole town started to buckle and collapse. 

The ground fell out beneath her where she was kneeling with her brother. She fell. And she burned. And she was crushed by the shattered earth as it compressed down into the ground. She heard an anguished scream come from something massive and furious, and knew in her soul that all of them, her crew and family and the whole town, had died.

Everything went white.

"Oh, you'll have to do much better than that, loves," the old woman said.

Lup woke up.

Taako was with her.

She instantly burst into tears, throwing her arms around her dumb brother to squish him close to her.

"I am really good at my job!" Taako shouted, shoving her off him. "What the fuck! Who are you assholes, and why does this shit always happen around you? Did we all just  _die?_ "

"That's a lot of questions," Merle pointed out.

Magnus picked Lup up by her shoulders to set her on her feet. "It's not so much that it happens around  _us,"_ he said. "This is just sort of what the Grand Relics do."

"What the shit is a Grand Relic!"

"We're after a Grand Relic right now," Lup said, wiping her face on Merle's shirt, pulled up high so it would reach. "You've beaten us to, like, five of them. Damn, babe, don't do that to me again. We're not going into the bank," she announced. "None of us is-- Wait, where're you going?"

"To the bank, dawg," Taako said, already walking away. He stepped off the path, clearly not interested in re-meeting Roswell.

"It's not in the bank," Magnus hissed. 

"You two go talk to Roswell," Lup said. "Do some investigating. I'll stay with Taako. We'll meet--"

"Back here?" Magnus demanded. "In an hour? When the town is destroyed again and the loop starts over? Lup! We have to find the Chalice!"

"This is gonna take more than two loops," Lup called over her shoulder as she jogged after Taako. "We've got time!"

" _Do_ we have time!" Magnus said, voice already distant. 

Whatever, they'd figure it out. 

"Wait up!" Lup shouted to Taako.

He whirled around to glare at her. "You're not coming with me," he snapped. "You bring chaos and destruction wherever you go--"

"Aww, Koko, you say the sweetest things."

"--and I do  _not_ need that kind of attention."

"Come on," she wheedled, "take me with. I know what we're looking for, I can point it out to you. It can be a twaper, we used to do shit like this all the time!"

"Twaper?" he sighed, arms crossed, all his weight shifted to one hip.

"Yeah, y'know. Twin caper." She held out one forefinger for each word, then drew them together. "Twaper! You thought it up when we were ten." She beamed at him.

"I was dumpster diving when I was ten," he said waspishly. Under the power of Lup's unrelenting smile, he finally threw his hands in the air. "Ugh, whatever! Come along if you want, we're wasting time."

Lup trotted after him on the long walk around the edge of town back behind the bank. "What's your plan for getting out if you find the Chalice?"

"Once I have the item, I'm betting I can be pulled out by--" He eyed her skeptically. "...my employer. I've never met anyone or any _thing_  he couldn't beat, so this time...bubble. Stuff." He flicked a hand through the air. "Not gonna be a problem."

"Must really be some guy," Lup mused. "How'd you meet?"

"Fuck off," Taako snapped. His pace got slower, more precise, as they approached their destination. He blanketed not just himself but Lup in Invisibility, keeping contact with her so they could still see each other. Instead of Levitating them up, he cast Rope Trick, forcing her to climb behind him. 

"This is a lot of work for breaking into a bank that's not even gonna have what we're looking for," Lup complained.

"Shut up and climb," Taako said. 

Somewhere down beyond the bank, a commotion rose. Lup scrambled onto the roof after Taako to look at the clock tower: 11:10. The purple kerchief assholes were causing a ruckus. Roswell left the sheriff's office, followed by Magnus and Merle, who at least this time weren't locked up.

Behind her, something started scuttling. She turned around to find Taako watching a small mechanical beetle--a Scuttle Buddy--living up to its name as it disappeared over the edge of the roof and into one of the bank's tall windows. 

"What're you--"

"Shh!" Taako hissed. "I'm trying to figure out the best way in."

"This is all going to reset in an hour," Lup said. "Well, more like fifty--  _well_ forty-five minutes. How's about we save some of that good good time and just bust in through the ceiling."

"This is a custom-enchanted Scuttle Buddy," he said absently, pulling a notebook out of one of his impossible pockets to start taking notes. "It's looking for alarms both magical and mundane, not, like, general layout or staff count or whatever." He looked around the roof as though measuring it, shuffled back a few steps, and snapped his book shut. The Scuttle Buddy came back just as he was putting the book away, so he scooped it up and tucked it in the same pocket. He produced some chalk instead.

" _Is_ it a Pocket of Holding?"

"Don't talk to me until this is done," he said, starting to draw runic circles on the roof. 

Lup tilted her head to read them better. "That's some slick work," she complemented. 

"Mmhmm." He put the chalk away. "Sweet talk isn't going to make me hand this thing over."

"It's called the Temporal Chalice," Lup told him. She gestured up toward the bubble high above them. "It's almost certainly what's causing all this. The bubble, the loop. Maybe even the destruction of the town. Everything." She leaned over to nudge his shoulder with hers, making them both sway. "I'm telling you, it can't be in the bank. Reaction like this? It screams self-defense. What would be threatening the Chalice in a bank?"

Taako studied her for a long, silent moment. "If it's not in the bank," he said at last, rolling up the bits of the roof in his runic circles like the wooden tiles were cloth, "then there's no harm in looking. Besides, those assholes from the last loop who dropped that roof on me were here for  _something."_ He shrugged, digging actual rope from his impossible pocket. "Let's find out what."

"What's with you and climbing rope all of a sudden?"

Taako rolled his eyes, attaching the rope to an Immovable Rod he kept somewhere, presumably up his butt with the rest of this shit. He tossed the rope into the hole he'd made, then slid down it into the vault. Lup cast Feather Fall on herself and jumped lightly after him. By the time she got there, Taako was already looking around. 

"This is bullshit," he grumbled, glaring at the piles and piles of useless diamonds. 

"I told you it would-- Huh." Lup tiptoed across the vault toward an out-of-place book. "Is this a journal?" She picked it up, starting to flip through. "Why would someone put a journal in a--"

Taako smacked the book out of her hands. "What are you doing?" he hissed. "You're going to get us caught!"

"How!" she whispered back furiously. "Nobody even knows where here!"

"They will if you keep  _touching stuff_ and moving it around!" 

Lup picked up the book to throw it at him. "We're no closer to figuring anything out now than we were half an hour ago, dingus! This loop's a wash anyway, we might as well read the mysterious journal locked in a  _bank vault_ with us until that clock strikes--"

The first tremor shook Refuge. Somehow she'd forgotten about it. The vault was tossed a little harder than the jail had been, knocking both Lup and Taako to the floor. Diamonds and other precious items spilled across the floor. Taako's immovable rope swayed wildly. Bits of the roof outside his circle cracked and crumbled inwards. 

 "Oh man," Lup groaned when the quake stopped. "I think that gives us, like, ten? Fifteen minutes until the bank explode guys show up." She climbed to her feet and held a hand out for Taako. "We gotta get out of here before that happens."

Taako, looking a little shaken, finally agreed with her. They climbed back out of the vault. Taako wanted to erase his circles, but Lup wouldn't let him. They only had half an hour now, and they had to make it count.

Magnus and Merle were just leaving the Davy Lamp when Lup and Taako caught up with them. 

"Well it's not in the bank," Lup reported. "Where's Roswell?"

Merle hooked a thumb toward the other end of Main Street. "Went after the ruffians, now I figure they're probably trying to help clean up from the earthquake."

"We have a lead, though," Magnus added. "The barkeeper, Ren, she told us there's an old witch at the edge of the woods called Paloma who can help us 'get our bearings'." He shrugged. "We don't have a lot of time left, so I figured, what's the harm, right?"

"Unless anybody else has any ideas," Lup said, addressing the group but needling Taako, specifically.

He huffed, crossing his arms and looking away. 

"Excellent." She rubbed her hands together. "Paloma it is."

"Go on without me," Merle said, already running after Cassidy.

"I don't think she's gonna be helpful!" Magnus shouted after him.

"You never know!" Merle called back, voice fading as he raced through the town.

Magnus shrugged. "Shall we?"

Paloma, apparently, dealt in prophesy: a small one for one diamond, a big one for ten. She also knew them by name, which seemed to freak Taako out more than a reasonable amount.

"Got any diamonds in that pocket?" Lup muttered to Taako, who was doing his best to stay unobtrusive in the background.

"Even if I do," Taako replied, matching her tone exactly as they let Magnus charm the witch with his rustic personality,  "why should I give you any?"

"It'll get us out of here faster."

Taako gave her a diamond.

Lup stared at it. She felt herself begin to swell with a delicate combination of outrage and disbelief. "Why do you just  _have a diamond--!"_

Taako swiped it out of her open palm and tossed it to Magnus, who gave it to Paloma.

The room went dark. Taako tried to book it, but Lup got an arm around his waist and held firm. From the ceiling, a small crystal teardrop fell on the table between Magnus and Paloma and shattered, sending a cloud of dust into the air. In the dust, Lup could see the entrance to a cave or mine. At some point, there had been a cave-in, leaving the entrance completely surrounded by rocks.

When Paloma spoke, her voice was different, lower, warped by the vision speaking through her, echoing across the room. 

_"Imminent destruction comes from below. Before you can learn how to stop it, you must figure out what it is you must stop. Turn your eyes to the quarry. You’re not ready to face what awaits you there, but you must know its face."_

The lights came back on.

"So Merle's a step ahead of us on this one," Magnus said.

"Do you have more diamonds?" Lup asked Taako. "Like, maybe ten of them?"

"Get away from me," Taako said, batting at her hands when she began patting him down.

"We should have stolen some while we were in the vault, dingus!"

"We didn't know we'd need them _, goofus."_

Lup's eyes filled with tears. Taako punched her arm in an apparent blend of annoyance and confusion.

"Well, I guess there's only one thing left to do." Magnus stood up. "We should go back to the bank."

"What?" Taako looked over at him, surprise bright in his eyes. "Why? We're all going to die in like fifteen minutes anyway. If what we gotta beat is in the quarry, let's just go there and beat it."

"She just said we're not ready," Lup pointed out.

"Taako is  _always_ ready," he said with a toss of his head that sent his long ponytail swinging.

Magnus thanked Paloma and started to leave. The elves scrambled after him. "What would probably help us is that big prophesy," he said. "We need ten diamonds for that, right? And the bank just got blown wide open."

"This is a great plan," Lup said.

"This is a terrible plan," Taako protested as they all broke into a run. "We'll never make it there and back in time!"

"Sure we will," Lup and Magnus said in unison. Taako groaned.

By the time they got to the bank, everything was in chaos. Roswell had beaten the ruffians, but it didn't matter. Magnus grabbed a bunch of diamonds and a dwarf woman and got out of the bank but it didn't  _matter._

The bank collapsed with Roswell and most of the other tellers and customers inside. "Next time," Magnus said, "I'll get Roswell."

It didn't  _matter._

Lup pulled Taako close, clinging to him as the clock tower, blazing with fire, began to chime noon. At first he just stood there. But when the town buckled and collapsed, he finally turned, holding her back, heads tucked close together as they had for years--decades--before the IPRE.

"Next time," Lup breathed into his long, familiar ear. He nodded into her shoulder.

They fell. They burned. The earth crushed them, underscored by that agonized, furious roar.

They died.

The world went white.

"Somehow you did worse that time."

Lup woke up.

The diamonds Magnus had stuffed in his bag were gone. The stone Taako had given Paloma was back.

"I don't think I really learned anything," Merle said. "'Cept I can get us into the quarry now, when we're ready."

"That's better than nothing." Magnus got up, brushing off his pants thoughtfully. "We'll do better this time." 

While Magnus caught Merle up on the prophecy, Lup gave Taako a hand up. He looked unaffected, if she could ignore the way his ears were pinned against his skull. "What's wrong?" she asked, shaking a finger when he looked ready to bluff. "Don't even start with me, your ears have always been a tell."

After another small hesitation, he asked, "Why does it feel familiar?"

She brushed his poncho off with brisk swipes of her hands. "Why does what feel familiar?"

"Dying." He shrugged awkwardly when her gaze snapped up to his. "Not just dying, but waking up again after. It feels familiar."

Lup pressed her mouth into a thin line. "I'm not sure you'll believe me," she admitted.

Taako scrubbed a hand over his mouth. "I'm not sure it'll matter," he agreed. 

"Okay." Lup clapped her hands to get Merle and Magnus's attention. "Let's talk strategy. It looks like we've got some objectives we need to focus on, above and beyond finding the Chalice. Yes, you too, Taako, if we ever wanna get out of this. We need to figure out what caused this bubble to pop up around town, y'know, discover the mystery of the bubble. We can't break it if we don't know how it got there."

"Challenge fucking accepted," Taako muttered.

Lup rolled her eyes. "Um, sure, babe, you see how far that gets you. The other thing we need to do," she continued, "is figure out what is destroying the town and try to stop it, so we can all stop dying. I know it's basically old hat at this point, but it still fucking hurts and I'm not a fan. So. How do we want to do that?"

"I think this all seems pretty tied to the mines," Magnus said. "Now that Merle knows the way in, maybe that's the best place to try."

"Good, maybe I can find this big monster thing and take it out," Taako said. "Get that bad boy handled. Are we gonna sneak around Roswell or what? Let's get this show on the road."

Magnus squared his shoulders and marched up to Roswell, immediately beginning to lay out the whole truth of the situation.

"Kind of a rush in first, sneak never fella, isn't he," Taako mused.

Lup shrugged. "He's got a lot of natural rustic hospitality working for him, this usually turns out pretty well."

It worked out this time, too. Roswell set themselves as a guard in the middle of town, ready to protect the bank, while Lup and her posse booked it to the quarry.

"We didn't even need to talk to Roswell," Taako complained while Lup, Magnus, and Merle investigated a bush. "They never would have seen us go this way."

"It'll stop them from being suspicious of us later," Magnus said distractedly, examining a bomb they unearthed along with a miner's helmet. There was also a shovel and a pickaxe looking thing. 

Merle put the helmet on. "Let's go! We can use that bomb to blow away all the rubble."

"Or," Lup countered, pulling out her hole-thrower.

"Well sure," Merle grumbled, tucking the bomb away safely, "if you wanna be  _safe_ about it."

Lup got them into the mines, trying hard not to draw attention to how close Taako crowded near her in the closed-in cavern. He'd never had a problem with small spaces before, but something about the mine seemed to spook him. She wanted to reach out to him, draw him against her side, but she didn't. Their arms brushed as they walked, and that had to be enough for now.

Not too much later, the cavern opened up into a large room that looked like maybe a break room. On the far end of the room was an enormous metal vault-style door that Taako immediately went over to investigate. To the right were twenty-six lockers in two rows of thirteen. One of the names had been worn off. Magnus went to look through the locker with the torn-off label.

"This looks like it's been," Taako began, turning back toward them. He cut himself off with a horrified expression and a cry of "Magnus, DON'T--!" while reaching toward the fighter.

"What?" Magnus asked, looking up as he pulled the door open.

Lup dove for Taako.

The entire room exploded.

Magnus and Merle probably died instantly. Lup was able to mold the fire around her and Taako, saving them for the moment.

"Well," Taako said, squished with her in a pocket of air created when the falling vault door crashed against a pile of rubble, "this sucks. Your friend just.  _Sucks._ Who opens a door without checking for traps?"

"We don't run across a lot of stuff that ends up being trapped," Lup admitted. "He's a little. Uh."

"Stupid?"

"I was going to say impetuous." Lup wiggled one foot where it was wedged under Taako's armpit, trying to give him a comforting pet. 

"Ew," Taako said, without much conviction. "Next time just let me blow up, okay? This is awful."

"At least we can see," Lup said. "Darkvision, huh? Get you some."

Taako didn't reply. His expression was tight, his jaw clenched. As she watched, his breathing began to accelerate.

"If it'd help," Lup said, already trying to squirm around and reach her bag, "I have a light?" Actually what she had was the fuse that once held Maureen Miller's soul. Lucas had given it to her before disappearing into the world to "do good", and Lup hadn't been able to throw it away. When Taako continued to say nothing, Lup used a touch of magic to light the fuse. It cast her brother's face into sharp relief, all light and shadow, achingly familiar. Lup opened her mouth to make a wombmates joke.

The fuse cut her off.

What sounded like Maureen's voice, stripped of emotion, filled their little bubble.

_I saw all of existence, all at once. I saw a dark storm, a living hunger, eating it from within. But I saw a brilliant light heralded by seven birds flying tirelessly from the storm._

_I saw seven birds._

_The Twins_

_The Lover_

_The Protector_

_The Lonely Journal Keeper_

_The Peacemaker_

_And The Wordless One"_

She listed the birds, again and again, until the machinery failed and broke, leaving them--The Twins--in the dark and silence.

"I think I might hate you guys," Taako said, sounding more resigned than hateful. "My life was so simple this time last year."

"She's talking about you too," Lup said, unable to help herself. "The Seven Birds...that's us. Me and you and Magnus and Merle and Barry and Davenport and Lucretia."

"What, in that order?"

"No." Lup swallowed hard, leaning against the rock jutting into her back. She thought Taako might have squeezed her foot with his arm, but she also might have just... It might be wishful thinking. "You won't believe me."

"Just try me," Taako said with a breath of exhaustion under the words.

Lup took a deep breath. "The Lover is my boyfriend. Barry. The Protector is Magnus, the Journal Keeper is Lucretia, the Peacemaker is Merle, the Wordless One is Davenport."

"I met him on the train," Taako mused. "He seemed pretty wordy."

"It's...complicated."

"Hmm. And you and me, we're the Twins?"

"I told you you wouldn't believe me," she said weakly.

"Why don't I remember you?"

Lup shut her eyes to hide the building tears. "For the same reason Davenport was once wordless. There's a creature, the voidfish--"

"The what?" Lup opened her eyes to find Taako squinting at her, brow furrowed. "Is it-- You call it, like. Just a staticy sound?"

"What?" Lup furrowed back at him. "No, it's the voidfish. Fisher. Magnus named him!"

"Are you trying to be cute or what?" Taako demanded. "All I'm hearing is static!"

"Holy  _shit,_ that's weird." Lup dragged a hand over her mouth. "You can hear me say the Temporal Chalice and Grand Relics and the Bureau of Balance but not  _voidfish?"_

"Didn't get those last two," Taako admitted.

"That doesn't make any sense!" Lup protested.

Taako shrugged. "Don't have a great reason to lie to you, homie."

" _Ugh,_ I don't understand. Why some memories and not others!" She watched Taako pat the front of his poncho until he could thoughtfully finger a lump hiding underneath.

The stone.

"Who gave that to you?" Lup asked. "And what is it? Where have you been all these years?"

"Where have y _ou_ been?" he echoed, arching a challenging eyebrow. "If we're twins and you missed me so much, why didn't you look for me?"

"I've been trapped in an umbrella," she said. "I looked for you as soon as I got out!"

Taako started at her.

The second quake rocked the world around them. Lup grabbed Taako's knees, curling up tight with him. Something somewhere roared.

They died.

Everything when white.

The old woman was beginning to look tired.

Lup woke up.

Taako immediately got to his feet to smack Magnus hard on one shoulder. "The whole thing is booby-trapped, dingdong! Maybe wait until we figure it out before  _blowing us to pieces."_

"Well I didn't know!" Magnus protested, rubbing his shoulder with a pout. "I tried to open it cautiously."

"Next time leave it to a professional," Taako snapped.

"A professional what?" Merle asked.

Taako flipped his ponytail over his shoulder but didn't respond.

They tried again.

Back in the break room, Taako was able to tell that the lockers--26 letters for the alphabet--were hooked up to the door in order to input a code. "This is  _insanity,"_ he stressed. "But! That's how it does."

Merle detected traps on sixteen of the lockers. Magnus pulled out his Lens of Straight Creepin' and figured out the first letter was D and the last letter was N. It took another loop for them to get  _Disarm. Open.,_ but after that it was smooth sailing.

Well. After that it was an ice locker full of stakes and a carnivorous fuzzy bugs interaction and an elevator and a mine shaft complete with earthquake and then they were  _eaten_ by carnivorous fuzzy bugs so had to start over. With the quicker start, they made it all the way to the end of the track without being eaten even though Taako refused to help them stomp the bugs that fell into their cart, citing the price of his boots as part of a five minute diatribe against every aspect of their current situation.

They arrived at a door marked  _open._

It was a chamber that looked built to keep the adorable fuzzy black piranha bugs out. And there was a bomb in it. Magnus used his new rogue skills he'd learned with Carey to open up the paneling, but sent them back around on a few loops before Magnus remembered the time cards and Taako shoved them all side, cursing wildly ("How are you dumbfucks still alive?" he shrieked. "A time loop," the other three replied immediately.), to drop Isaak's card in and stop the clock.

The door on the opposite end of the chamber hissed open. 

There was an enormous chamber, with not one but  _three_ more bubbles: one in the ceiling, one below a metal hatch, one around a door on the other side of the gaping pit before them. Far above their heads, the town of Refuge was in chaos.

"Not long now," Merle observed.

Taako began another rant that took them right to the end of their loop.

It turned out that the town was being destroyed by a rampaging adult purple worm.

"I think we found the mama," Magnus said.

It ate them before anyone else could comment.

"You're getting very close."

Lup woke up. "Well we know what's destroying the town," she said as they all got up again. "That's one down!"

"You wanna go fight it?" Magnus asked Taako.

Taako's ears sunk low. "Uh," he said, gaze darting around. "What's option B?"

"I think what we really need right now is guidance," Lup said.

"Oh no," Taako groaned. 

"Oh  _yes._ Seems to me we need ten diamonds."Lup pumped a fist in the air. "Let's go rob a bank!"

Taako turned to Magnus. "I bet we could take that worm if we really wanted to."

"Aw, I don't wanna kill her." Magnus looked deeply sad. "I wanna pop the bubble and get her back to her babies."

"You're a sap," Taako said in a tone of dawning horror.

"Rob a bank," Lup began chanting. "Rob a bank!"

"I don't want to rob a bank," Taako snapped. "Bank robbing takes time if we're gonna do it right, and I don't want to--"

"But we need the diamonds!"

"--amateurish grab for loose stones that would--"

"There's another option," Magnus interrupted. Both elves turned to him expectantly. Magnus jerked a thumb toward Merle. "When we were in the Davy Lamp, there were a couple guys who would have put up ten diamonds against us in a contest of, like, strength or cards or something. Or maybe the owner, Ren, she might be able to help you." He nudged Lup with a grin. "If diamonds are the currency here, maybe you could get a part-time job."

Lup rolled her eyes.

But Taako's ears lifted high in blatant interest. "Hmm. Cards, you say?" He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, then shrugged. "Yeah okay, I'm for it."

Lup's entire body drooped. "Aw. But I wanted to rob a bank."

"That's because you're crazy." Taako patted her shoulder absently as he passed, following Magnus to his traditional Roswell Exchange. "Maybe next time, pumpkin."

Once they were through the gate, they split up, Magnus and Merle to find Isaak, Taako and Lup to finds diamonds for the big prophecy. Lup figured Taako's plan was to scope the place out a bit, lay low until he figured out his targets, then maybe do his weird new covert thing to trick them out of their diamonds.

Lup saw the purple kerchief ruffians and immediately engaged. They had a brief, amusing tussle, and Lup tossed them out. Ren, the owner, looked a little annoyed, but before she could scold Lup, she spotted Taako.

Ren's whole face filled with wonder. "Oh my god," she breathed, hands pressed to her cheeks. "Oh my god!" she said again, loud now in utter delight. "You're  _Taako!"_

Taako startled. "Uh." He glanced around. "...Yeah?"

"The magical chef, I saw your show in the Underdark!" Ren bustled over to him. "I'm your  _biggest fan."_

Taako's expression then was...complicated. Surprised, pleased, bitter, with faint sadness under all the rest. "That was a long time ago," Taako said with a charming smile pulled over his real feelings. "You've got a good memory!"

Ren looked confused. "Oh, uh. I guess celebrities track time different, huh?" She grinned. "Seems like just yesterday to me!"

"How long ago exactly?" Lup asked. 

"Weird...kind of a weird question," Ren said. She glanced between Lup and Taako. "Say you two look a lot alike, are you--"

"Sure, sounds great," Taako interrupted. "Remind me, though, how long ago was that underground show?"

"Oh! Just a few years ago, not long before I came here."

"Hmm." Taako glanced side-long at Lup. "Feels more like six to me."

"Celebrity time." Lup nudged Taako. "Hell of a drug."

"Sure, great." Taako scanned the room quickly, gaze lingering on the elf and goliath who were probably the ones Magnus meant. Lup watched Taako's plan shift. He turned a brilliant smile on Ren. "Hey, listen," he said. "Have I got a scoop for you."

Taako wove a story about a magical seminar that sounded so interesting even Lup wanted to go. It drew the attention of not just Lup, but every other magic user in building. 

Lup had never known Taako to be charismatic or persuasive. That was more her job when they were younger. But now, after only a few years apart in the scheme of things, Taako had an entire crowd of bar patrons eating out of his hand. By the end, he had more than enough diamonds for Paloma.

"Work on the seminar starts first thing tomorrow morning," he said after he'd pocketed the rocks. Ren tried to give him her payment, but he held up a hand. "How about we use the Davy as HQ for our planning," he told her with a wink, "and we'll consider that your payment."

Ren looked a little starry eyed. "I have a question, if you don't mind me asking," she said with just a touch of hesitance. Taako tipped his head to one side to encourage her to keep going. She bit her lip. "Well. You said the show's on hiatus?"

"Mmhmm." Taako crossed his arms to lean back against the counter, then crossed his ankles too. "Kind of lost its luster, if I'm being honest. Gotta rediscover my passion before pushing the old brand, y'know?"

"Sure." Ren nodded enthusiastically. "That sounds reasonable. So what've you been doing in the meantime?"

Lup's ears lifted in curiosity. She studied Taako's face, watching him decide how to answer.

At last, he spread his hands with a smile. "I'm a curator for a private collection," he said, honesty layered over fabrication. "My work affords me a kind of freedom of movement the show didn't. I do a lot more traveling, if you can believe it. And I get to be a solo act, which I've learned is the best style for me."

"What's the collection?" Lup asked.

Taako eyed her. "Rare and powerful artifacts."

"Who for?"

"My employer."

"You," Lup said, "are a jerk person, Taako."

"I think that about wraps up our business here," Taako said, pushing off the counter with a smirk. "If there's a tomorrow," he added to Ren, "we'll see you here, bright and early."

" _If_  there's what now," Ren said.

Taako didn't pause his stride at all. They briefly crossed paths with Merle and Magnus, who appeared to be on their way back to the sheriff's office for some reason. Lup waved at them as she and Taako made a beeline for Paloma's place.

Once again, she knew them, appeared to remember them from last time. She offered them scones, which Lup took but Taako refused.

"I don't eat anything I didn't make," he said with a smile. "No offence."

"Of course not, dear," Paloma said. "Though I do wonder why you ate the cookies, yes? Never mind, you are in a hurry."

Taako blushed and looked away, so Lup, grinning, was the one who leaned forward. "We're here for the prophecy."

"Of course, yes, that is simple! Which you want? Big? Little?"

"One of each," Taako said, dumping his haul on the table.

"Which first?" she asked, scooping the diamonds into a small box.

"Big," Lup decided.

A large crystal dropped from the ceiling to shatter on the table. This time, the image in the cloud was a first-person perspective of a wild cart race. It zipped along the tracks, lit by something from above, until freezing at a junction. 

Paloma crawled across the table to take an elf cheek in each hand, pressing with unnatural strength until their faces were squished together. "Turn right," she said in her deep, echoing prophecy voice. She pressed harder.

"Turn! Right!"

She crowded her face right in with theirs. " _Turn right,"_ she whispered in a low rush.

Then the cloud and her eyes cleared, and she climbed back into her seat with a brief apology.

Lup and Taako traded an incredulous look, but then another crystal was falling, huge and black, filled with streaks of red and yellow and green in a pattern Lup recognized.

The Hunger.

When the prophecy shattered, it produced two visions, side-by-side. The first one, on the left, looked like an ocean made out of tar, with a black sky above it, with indescribable... _stuff_  moving under the surface. On the right, it was a gray world, covered in something like ash, barren and lifeless.

Paloma spoke again, more possessed than before. "In the future, you will be offered a terrible choice between two options that will determine the fate of reality itself. In this moment of crisis, remember. There is always a third option."

Two options? Lup glanced between the scenes, confused. One was the Hunger, had to be, so that made the other--

Oh.

Lucretia's plan.

A world without bonds.

So what was the third option?

Paloma slumped in her chair, looking exhausted. 

"We should go," Lup murmured to Taako.

He nodded, then held up one finger. "Sure thing, but first let's get that small prophecy." He winked at Paloma. "Gotta get what we paid for."

"Taako," Lup protested. "We just got  _two_ of the large crystals, surely that's enough--!"

"No, no," Paloma said. "Small prophecy is easy. I burp and a small prophecy happen. Here, I will show you." She snapped her fingers. A small crystal fell and shattered. "You are close to your goal. But you are missing what you need to break the barrier. You will need divine intervention. You will find it at the Temple of Istus."

"Cool beans," Taako said.

Lup said their goodbyes and hustled Taako to the Temple of Istus out to the west of town. Merle and Magnus were there with a story from Cassidy about what had happened to the team of miners, the nest they'd found cut in half by the bubble, and the accidental clue about the temple. Lup gave them a rundown on the prophecies ("We can't let Lucretia sever the bonds. We can't let the Hunger consume this world. We  _have_ to find a third option. And we have to turn right." "Like, right now, or...?")

While they were chatting, Taako wandered away. Just. Walked into the temple to explore, leaving the rest of them behind. They found him picking his way through crumbled stone into a cave up to the northwest a bit.

"Split parties die," Lup hissed when they caught up.

"What a tragedy that would be," he drawled. "Another iteration of the Roswell Exchange!"

"How'd you find this cave?" Magnus wondered curiously as they snuck in.

"Fantasy  _fucking_ Indiana Jones, do you not listen when I speak."

"What?" Magnus grinned when Taako turned to glare at him.

They found a large room with a shadow guy reading by lamplight. He noticed them, throwing the book aside and dousing the light. Merle made a light so he and Magnus could see. They found the book, some barrels, other junk, and a skeleton with its head painted like a festive sugar skull. 

Lup walked over so she could stare it down, hands on her hips. "Listen," she said, "this dead act is cute, but I'm a lich, buddy. Start talking."

The skeleton sat up. 

"I usually just dust these," Taako mused.

"Why would you do that?" Merle asked. "Do they think it's friendly?"

Taako looked confused. "What? Why would they care if-- Oh, ugh,  _no._ "  He scowled. "I don't, like, gently remove their layers of dust, I  _turn them into dust._  You are the most naïve treasure hunter I have  _ever_ met, bar none. If someone had described you to me, I  _would not_ have believed them."

"Aw." Merle put a hand to his chest, smile looking watery. "Thanks, bud, you know that really means a lot to--"

With a muffled sound of deep frustration, Taako threw his hands in the air and joined Lup by the skeleton.

"What do you hooligans want?" it demanded. "You’ve come into my little hutch here. I was enjoying a good Cleveland tale, and he just broke the big case! And you randos rolled up on my spot!"

"Are you reading a  _Caleb Cleveland: Kid Cop_  book?" Taako demanded. "Holy shit! Are you  _ten?"_

"They're good books!" the skeleton and Magnus protested in unison.

"Can we focus," Lup sighed. "The bank has already exploded, we've got  _minutes--"_

"Okay," Taako said, lifting his hands in a show of surrender. " _Fine,_ interrogate the kid book loving--"

"They aren't just for--"

"My name," Lup said loudly while Merle laughed in the background, "is Lup." She pointed to each of the others in turn. "This is Magnus, Merle, and my dumbo brother Taako."

"My name is Luca," the skeleton said. "I am the chief cleric of the temple of Istus! Not that- I mean not so much anymore, but um, but yeah. That's me, alright! Uh." He seemed to look them over. "What- what are you doing here, why did you come looking for me? How did you find me?"

"Well now, that's a long story," Merle said in the musing tone he usually fell into when telling extremely useless rambling tales.

Lup put a hand over his mouth and summarized in about twenty seconds.

"So you're here to stop the bubble?" Luca clarified. "Good," he said when they all nodded. "I would also very much like to stop what’s happening in this town. You guys understand that time is like. Time is sick in Refuge, right?"

Taako sucked in a huge lungful of air. Lup shifted her verbal interception from Merle to Taako and said, "Yes. That's why we want to fix it."

"I'm glad," Luca said. "It kinda goes against everything we do in the church of Istus. We celebrate the normal passage of time and that is-- anything but that is happening here in Refuge. What do you need? How can I help you?"

As it turned out, he  _couldn't_ help them. Not without his brother. If they could get Raymond to come back from the farm and help with the ritual, they could get Istus to lend some divine intervention, and maybe move closer to solving the puzzles and helping everyone survive. 

The clock in town began to ring noon. Underneath them, the ground rolled and broke under the rage of a worried purple worm mother.

"Next time," Lup said firmly. 

They died.

Everything went white.

The old woman was lying on the floor. She looked  _bad._

Lup woke up.

"I am officially over this," Taako said, standing with a stretch. 

"We're getting really close," Merle said. "I can feel it."

"Here we go," Magnus said. "To the Stonefruit Farms!" He led them through the Roswell Exchange, then south toward the farm.

On the way through town, Taako took a moment to look down the well, then sighed heavily through his nose and joined back up with them.

"What was that all about?" Lup asked him.

"Saw something," he said vaguely. 

"What?"

He flashed a grin at her. "Eventual short-cut."

They borrowed Roswell's horse to save time. Well, Magnus and Merle did. Taako summoned his strange oilslick Garyl, magnanimously letting Lup ride behind him. In no time flat, they were at the farm.

Then they were attacked by the farmhands, who ended up being part of the purple bandanna freedom gang, or whatever, and then they met Luca's brother, Redmond. Redmond said he would help Luca raise the temple, but only if they would help him first.

He wanted to rob the bank.

"Hell yes!" Lup cheered. "I've been waiting for this all-- Uh." She looked around at the others. "Er. ...For some time now."

"But it's not gonna work," Magnus protested. "Look, Redmond, we've been in a time loop here for ages, and your attempt on the bank--"

"A what now?"

"--always goes to shit.  _Always._ "

"That might be true," Redmond acknowledged. "All the same, I gotta try. The key to getting out of this town  _must_ be in that vault."

Lup's brain produced a list of everything she and Taako had seen in the vault. It was all just regular stuff.

Except.

She twisted to slam her fist into Taako's shoulder. "I knew it!" she shouted. "I knew we should have read that stupid book!"

"Like we would even remember it now if we had," he sulked, rubbing the offended arm.

"What?" Redmond said.

"Better not to ask," Merle told him with a wink. "Twin thing, y'know?"

So they left to rob the bank. Lup talked Redmond into letting her use the hole-thrower instead of his enormous, useless bomb, and Redmond promised them a two minute head-start. Everything went well for, like. Twenty seconds. 

Then it went straight to shit.

Guards were running everywhere and Lup was having no success sneaking toward the vault and Magnus's cover story was  _shit._ Taako, also, was refusing to help them. He just stood in the doorway laughing at them.

"This is a forty-second job and you all--" He doubled over, holding his stomach as he folded in half with laughter.

_Fuck it,_ Lup thought. She popped out of her hiding spot to throw the biggest hole she could at the vault. Assorted bank tellers began screaming. 

Roswell came back from the goose chase Magnus sent them on. Ren tried to walk into the bank. Taako, looking alarmed, immediately hip-checked her back out the door and shut it tight behind her.

"Oops," he said, seeming surprised.

One of the bank tellers hit a button that caused a set of metal gates to start lowering.

Taako was the closest person to Magnus. So Magnus, in a fit of panic, grabbed him by the onesie and  _hurled_ him at the vault. Taako flailed for just a moment before tucking his body up small. He sailed under the gate, through a teller window, flipped around, and stuck the landing. Without looking back, he hit the teller to knock her out, then ran into the vault.  

Lup, Magnus, and Merle did their best to hold up against Roswell without actually hurting them. It didn't go well: Magnus cut off one of Roswell's arms, Merle's Dispel Magic somehow did nothing, Lup spent her time trying to knock out the turret spitting darts at them and  _where was Taako._

He came skidding out of the vault with the book in one hand and an enormous gem in the other. 

"Is now really the time for that?" Magnus demanded, bloodied and trying his best to dodge Roswell.

Taako held up his hand with the gem in it, eyes locked on Roswell. "You work for me now," he said in a voice layered with magic. 

Planar Binding swept over the earth elemental. Roswell was not bound.

Roswell  _exploded._

Red clay flooded the room, and Lup realized this was how they were gonna die this time. Not in fire or fangs, but smothered to death by the aftereffects of a spell that should have worked. As the clay climbed up over her shoulders, she looked over to her brother.

Taako was reading the book. 

The clay rushed further. Up her neck. Creeping over her mouth.

Taako tilted his head back to gasp a breath, book held high. "Junebug!" he shouted.

Everything stopped. Then the clay came to life, rushing back into Roswell, who stood in the center of the bank, patient and waiting "What would you like me to do?" they said.

Lup collapsed in relief.

Magnus hauled himself up, then Lup too. "We're running out of time," he said. "Roswell, grab Redmond. Taako, Merle, let's  _go."_  They mounted up for another race, this time to the temple.

Luca and Redmond prayed to Istus, and the temple rebuilt itself. Behind them, the city of Refuge began to buckle and fall. Lup raced into the temple, followed by the others.

Istus was there. The actual goddess Istus, knitting as she sat on the steps leading up to the altar.

"Hail and well met!" Magnus called. Taako smacked him.

"You four are just in time," Istus said with a smile. "It's good to see you." Her gaze lingered on Lup and Taako. Her smile deepened. "I'm glad you've found each other."

Taako looked at Lup, then down and away.

Istus beckoned them closer. "Look, I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know," she said when they settled down in the first pew to chat with her, "but this town is sick. Obviously, the whims of fate aren’t being obeyed as much as they’re being made a mockery of, and the force that’s wielding the Temporal Chalice is forcing everyone in this town to relive the same horrible day, the same horrible hour, over and over again. That’s not right. And you may find this upsetting, gang, but you are dying. Time isn’t rewinding every day at noon, it’s repeating for everyone. But for some reason the Temporal Chalice, or whatever’s wielding it is allowing you to remember the loops."

"So we  _are_  dying," Magnus said with a frown. "When we get out of this, will we still be dead?"

"Not if you get out on a loop you survive," she promised. "And that’s maybe something I can help you out with." She knitted a bit in silence before continuing. "Four of the Seven Birds..." She hummed a laugh. "You must have some idea of how unique you are?"

Magnus, Merle, and Lup traded looks. Taako turned his eyes toward the wall and set his jaw.

"Something about you..." She shook her head. "I have to admit, I'm intrigued. You've been agents of mine longer than you realize," she said.

"...Like." Lup drummed her fingers on her knee. "Since we got to this planar system, or...?"

"Almost your entire lives," she said, "the four of you have been preventing things that go against the designs of fate from happening; stopping powers that would reshape reality used by people who shouldn’t be using them! And—and that’s my whole jam."

"I think I'm in the wrong story," Taako said, looking like he would get up.

Istus beamed at him. "You too, Curator."

Taako's eyes widened with shock. 

"It's not conventional," she admitted. "But you  _are_ still getting powerful objects out of the hands of those who would wield them. Your employer, of course, would never permit actual  _use_ of the artifacts."

"You sure know a lot about this," Taako said, ears twisted flat in distress. Lup grabbed his hand, and Taako let her.

Istus shook out the scarf she was working on. "I'm the goddess of fate, Taako. Your fate is still visible to me, even with your trinket."

Taako touched the stone hidden under his poncho.

"How do we save the town?" Lup asked, leaning forward intently. 

"First," she said. "I'd like to make it formal, the way you help me. I want you to become my emissaries in this world. And if you do, I will grant you my blessing."

Taako stood abruptly. "I can't," he said. 

Istus held up her scarf. "You can," she promised. "It won't change anything for you, Taako. Not with him. With what he is, he won't ever even know."

"Then what's the  _point?"_  he demanded. "I have one job in this world, and I chose it with my eyes wide open."

"Don't you steal stuff?" Magnus asked. He held up his hands defensively when Taako glared at him. "You won't talk about it, bud, so I'm working with, like, two clues. But you steal things, right? For your boss's collection?" He gestured at Istus. "You don't think it'll help you to have the hand of Fate on you for that?"

"Plus," Merle added, "I don't think we're getting out of here without Istus's blessing. I say go for it." He nodded at her. "I'm in."

"Me too," Lup agreed.

"Same," Magnus said.

After a long silence, Taako sat back down. "Fine."

And then Istus knit. She pulled out a new color of thread from her tunic and wove it into she scarf, which stretched out further than they could see, maybe into another plane. As she knit, sigils of Istus appeared in front of them, a circular symbol with a needle in its center and strings represented by brass lines that wrapped around the needle and the symbol as a whole. Lup snatched hers out of the air. Magnus and Merle followed her lead. After a long gestation, Taako finally did too.

Once they had the pendants, Istus gave them each a gift. Merle got an orb that, when smashed, would send his consciousness nine seconds into the past. For Taako she had a bag of necessity, its mysterious contents sealed away until the appointed time when the item (or items) inside were exactly the item (or items) that he most needed. Magnus got a lance--the Chance Lance--made from the minute hand of the collapsing clock tower, which could pop the time bubbles and would recall on command.

She gave Lup a vial of liquid so clear it mostly didn't appear to have anything in it at all. 

"You'll know," Istus said with such confidence that Lup believed her. "You'll  _know,_ Lup."

Lup put the vial in her safest pocket, close to her heart. Taako stuck both his bag of necessity and Istus pendant in his Pocket of Holding. Merle stowed his treasure too, although Magnus continued to heft and twirl his. 

"Although…" Istus tapped a finger to her chin. "Hmm. You won’t have them after this loop comes down, so…" She pulled more treads from her tunic and spent a few seconds furiously knitting. "I don’t often do this, but I’ve–edited things a bit? So you’ve actually had these gifts from before you even came to Refuge."

"Awesome," Magnus said with conviction.

The ruination of Refuge had reached them. The walls of the temple were buckling, the brothers were already vanished from their sight. 

"We're almost out of time," Istus said. "I have one last blessing for you, my emissaries: Your fate is guiding you, not today, not tomorrow, but to a moment that will challenge you in a new and horrible way, and I cannot make the difficult decision that lies at the end of your quest  _for you_ , but I can grant you the time that you need to make that decision."

She disappeared for a couple of seconds, and when she reappeared she was wiping a tear from her eye. She looked at them, full of love and hope, and said,

"You're going to be amazing."

The building came down. 

They died.

In that white world, the old woman was breathing, and looked close to her end.

Lup woke up. She popped off the ground immediately, reaching her hands down for Taako to pull him up too. "We're gonna do it this time," she said, determined even as he rolled his eyes at her. Nothing could break her optimism.

They knew what was killing the town. They knew why, and when. They had a tool to get them through the bubbles. 

When she stretched her hands out for Taako, he sassed her, but he took them. Thoughtlessly, without question. He let her pull him to his feet. He bumped his hip against hers as they hurried toward the Roswell Exchange.

Except for this time it was less of an exchange and more of Magnus running by while shouting "Junebug, follow me! We don't have a lot of time," he said to the others over his shoulder as Roswell, badly confused, fell in line. "We have to get all the way through-- Taako, we don't have  _time!"_

Taako veered off toward the well again, peering inside. He grinned over at Lup.

She cut hard right to join him, cheering, "Shortcut!" She leaned beside him to look down.

A bubble. The one they'd seen on the ceiling of that large cave with the worm and all those other bubbles.

Merle and Magnus crowded around too. Magnus hefted the Chance Lance, hurling it down into the depths. When they heard the bubble pop, he recalled it, grinning widely. "We're doing  _awesome,"_  he said.

Lup hopped up onto the edge, then reached a hand down to haul Taako up too. He went, more surprised than reluctant. Lup wrapped one arm around his waist, fighting the urge to snicker when he fell against her with huff of air and clinging hands like a swooning highborn maiden. "We'll meet you down there," she said, lifting her plain replacement wand above her head with her free hand. She cast Feather Fall and down they went.

Once they landed, Taako dropped his hands, but he didn't really step away. They made room under the well for the others to land and waited. Lup started looking around, but Taako kept his gaze up.

After a few moments of silence, Taako said, "You know, I never..." He shook his head, refusing to look at her even when Lup turned to face him. "I've never been sent to collect an item and gone back without it. One time, it got pretty close, I got pretty hurt, and I tried to--" He swallowed hard. His gaze dropped to the ground, then over to each of the remaining bubbles in turn. At last, he looked at her, something frightened and determined in eyes just like hers. "I have never," he repeated softly, "gone back without the item."

Unexpectedly, Lup's heart began to race. She drew in a breath.

A rope dropped down through the well. Taako broke eye contact and stepped back. The other three joined them in Shaft A. The worm was bubbled below them. They ignored her for the moment, going through the previously-bubbled door at the end of the anti-fuzzy piranha bug chamber instead.

It was another huge room with a sign marked Shaft B. There was another cart track, another cart. Just off one side of the track was a large wooden platform. On that platform deck were two figures. One was the woman from the white space, floating in her own time-locked barrier with her withered hands wrapped around the Temporal Chalice. Her eyes were closed, her face looking down almost in prayer. 

The other figure on the deck sat on the floor with his back up against a few barrels. He wore a big black Stetson hat and was holding the handle of a mattock.

"Isaak!" Magnus called.

The sheriff looked over. "I didn’t expect you to be down here too," he said to Roswell. "But, okay, what can I do for you folks? I think I know, but let’s hear it."

"We're here for the cup," Lup said. 

"Yeah, well, I’ve been there, trust me, I know all about needing that cup."

"Hey, don't lump Taako in with you," Taako said, arms crossed. "Only one person in this room did a murder, and it wasn't us."

Magnus looked stricken. "Did you kill Jack?" he asked, voice going hoarse. "Isaak, tell me you didn't kill Jack for that stupid fucking cup."

Something bitter twisted Isaak's face. "Like you wouldn't? I've been watching you four since I became aware of you. After these past few loops, I feel I've got a pretty good hold on your character."

"False," Taako drawled.

Isaak ignored him. "You're the types of people that abuse every drop of power ever given to them. You're bank-robbers, you're bullies and thieves and liars and swindlers."

"I'm gonna blush."

"Folks like us can’t be trusted with power like this," Isaak said. "If you make a move on this girl I will draw on you."

"We know what these Relics can do," Magnus said. "We know better than anyone in this or any other plane of existence. Isaak, I  _made_ that Chalice." Taako whipped around to stare at Magnus, who ignored him. "I gave it to Jack and June for safekeeping." He made an expansive gesture to encompass June and the Chalice, the bubbles, the  _town._ "Look where that brought us! It can't stay on Faerun," he said stubbornly. "We're going to take it, and we're going to destroy it. It's never going to cause harm like this again. Now you can be part of that solution, or we can do this the hard way."

"She's dying, Isaak," Lup added with a motion toward June. "The loop is drawing too much energy from her. If we don't stop it soon, she'll die, and there won't be any undoing it."

"Are you gonna let that happen?" Merle asked. "When there's something you could do to stop it?"

"You're gonna be responsible for the death of Jack  _and_ his daughter?" Taako made a dismissive sound. "I can see how the Chalice got its teeth in you so easy." He showed his own teeth in what was not kind enough to be a smile. "How's this gonna play out, fella?"

"It's up to you," Magnus stressed. Taako opened his mouth, but Lup stomped on his foot before he could say anything.

Isaak continued to look conflicted. "It can't go with you," he said, almost to himself. "I can't let it stay here and kill June. I--"

"Here's an idea," Taako said. He lifted his hands and pushed, pinning Isaak to the wall with an invisible barrier--Wall of Force.

"He's not our enemy!" Magnus protested.

"He's not in our way anymore either," Taako said, shrugging one shoulder. "I'll apologize later."

"Will you?" Merle wondered.

"No." Taako smirked at him. " _Naïve_."

"We can't just," Magnus began.

"Magnus!" Lup shouted. "The town is going to be destroyed,  _throw the fucking spear!"_

"It's a lance," Magnus muttered even as he pulled his arm back.

"No!" Isaak shouted.

The Chance Lance flew straight and true, piercing June's bubble. Once it popped, time slowed and stilled. And then--

They weren't in the mine shaft. They were in the Davy Lamp. Or, rather, a shadow image of it conjured by June, or the Chalice possessing June, or some combination of the two. June, holding the Chalice, invited them to sit at the table with her.

"I just knew that the four of you could do it from the moment I saw you," she said. "I knew you wanted to find me bad enough to actually do it."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Magnus said.

"I don’t remember being made," she said, "but I remember--well, I remember two things. I was made to want to be used, and to make other people want to use my power, but I remember before all this, before I was a cup, and before I was torn into seven parts and jammed into dishes, and gloves, and what have you, I was something--incredible. I could breathe life into entire realities, and shape existence at my master’s will."

Magnus reached out to touch June's hand--to comfort the Chalice. "I don't know if you can believe me," he said, low and earnest. "But we're here to get you so we can put you back together."

The Chalice in June looked...nearly desperate. "You are?" she breathed. "Oh, I-- I would like that very much." Magnus smiled. "But first, while I have you here." She smiled. "Let me try to sell you on a little pitch. If you hear me out and still say no, then I'll release the girl and go with you in peace."

And then Lup was in the white space. None of the rest of her IPRE family was with her. The Chalice in June was there. She was frowning in concentration. Lup realized she was scanning back through her memories, her time on Faerun, being locked in the Umbra Staff, all the years and cycles before when they were running from the Hunger, back even further to the home world.

The Chalice in June shook her head. "There's not a lot of point in going back further than my own planar system," she said. "It gets too messy too fast. That's okay--what I wanted to show you is here anyway."

The white space changed. Lup looked around and realized--

Oh.

Her room on the Starblaster. She saw herself writing a note, pausing at the end to kiss it.

"Do you know when this is?" the Chalice in June asked.

Lup swallowed hard. "Yeah," she breathed. "Right before I left to find my Gauntlet. Another piece of you," she added absently.

The Chalice in June nodded. "When you left and didn't come back, you made it so your entire existence had to be unwritten in your brother's mind. You left your twin alone. Not intentionally--but not all exits are made equal. This is something you can fix."

Lup turned to the Chalice in June, tears bright in her eyes. "What?"

She inclined her head. "If you take me, if you  _use_ me, I can turn back time to this moment. You won't leave without him. You can change everything. You never have to be locked up. Your twin never has to be alone. All you have to do is take me."

The world faded, first white, then back to that shadow Davy Lamp. Lup sat at the table again with Taako, Merle, and Magnus. Each of them wore the same shell-shocked expression she knew must be on her own face.

"There are some rules," the Chalice in June said. "If you take the chalice, there are three rules that you have to follow. The first is that you cannot walk the path that you walked in this timeline. Specifically, there’s gonna be no joining the Bureau of Balance, no--" She looked at Taako. "No special employer. ‘Cause the further you stay away from creating a paradox, the easier your new timeline is gonna be to maintain. The second rule is that you forfeit your place in this timeline completely. There is no comin’ back if you take the chalice and cross over. And the third rule is the hardest rule, and it’s the reason I’ve never successfully been able to change the past like this before. I’m gonna create a new timeline for you, but you have to sustain it. And all that entails is that every single thing that happens in this new world we create--good and bad--you have to want it to happen. Or else the timeline won’t hold and you’ll be lost."

June placed the Chalice in the middle of the table.

"The mistakes I've made in the past," Merle said after only a moment of silence, "I can fix those on my own, without this deal." He shook his head. "Pass."

"Julia wouldn't want it," Magnus said, and didn't elaborate.

"Fuck you," Taako said, eyes locked on the Chalice. "I--  _Fuck_ you, okay? My life right now is just how I want it. You think I'm gonna throw that away on a chance that I could have rolled a better deal? Fuck you, and also." He leaned forward with a vicious smile. "That guy's already dead. No need to kill him twice!" He sat back, arms and legs crossed, and refused to look at anyone.

Merle and Magnus looked at Lup.

That was when she realized she was crying. She lifted a hand to touch her cheek. "It was awful," she said. "It was  _awful,_ but I can't-- It could have been worse. And we're starting to bring it all back together, so I can't-- I  _can't--"_  She shook her head. "It's a no from me too."

"I can't say I'm not disappointed." She stood, spreading her arms to change the scene again. "I have one more offer to make."

She showed them Phandalin. She brought them to the moment before Taako shot Gundren with the Magic Missiles that tipped him over the edge into destruction. Into another glassing.

"This is cheating," Taako spat, looking furious but with his ears lower than Lup had ever seen them, twisted close to his head with anxiety and what looked like dread.

"This is an opportunity," she said, taking them into the town, the buildings, to watch each person die wreathed in fire. They saw Noelle, alive, on a delivery from her family's farm.

"At the same time," Magnus said, watching Taako more than the scene before them, "if we stop these, and don't go to the B.o.B., there isn't anyone to stop the train. There isn't anyone to stop the pink tourmaline. This is-- This is bad." He shut his eyes. "But can you show me a world where we never make the Relics in the first place? Because if you take us away from each other, the Hunger still comes." He met Taako's gaze, holding it firm. "The Hunger is coming here, no matter what timeline we're in. We need all the Relics. We need the Light of Creation. And we need a better plan." He turned to the Chalice in June. "Can you give us that?"

"No," she admitted.

"Then my answer isn't changed."

"Mine either," Lup and Merle echoed.

Taako opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He looked down and shook his head.

"I just wanted to give you my offer," she said, "and if you listened I’d let her go. And I’ll let her go because you’ve listened to my offer, and you have abstained. And since you’re apparently  _so okay_  with living with the consequences of your actions then I guess… Well, I guess I’ll leave you with this."

She showed them the end of Phandalin, painfully slowly, making them watch each citizen die in the path of Lup's Relic. She'd known it was bad--she'd known what a huge mistake she'd made after the first glassing--but this? Watching it unfold, knowing it was done, knowing she was ultimately responsible?

Well. This was a special kind of hell.

In her grief, she turned, and saw Taako. Saw her guilt and pain there. She reached out and found him reaching back. They clung to each other through the fire and loss, with Magnus and Merle on either side.

When it was done, they were back in Shaft B. June stood in front of them, so young, the child that she really was. She fell to her hands and knees. The Chalice rolled away from her, off the platform, to land  _perfectly_ at their feet.

"I told you we knew what we were doing," Magnus said to Isaak.

Taako scooped up the Chalice, sticking it in his impossible pocket.

"Yeah we'll talk about that later," Merle said, poking Taako's hip.

Over in Shaft A, something started to rumble.

"Oh god," June said. "Now that I don't have the Chalice, I can't maintain the barrier, she's gonna get through--"

"We're gonna take care of it," Magnus swore. "That mama worm is gonna get back with her babies and everything's gonna be fine, I promise."

"Do we have a plan?" Lup asked.

"I am...working on it."

Roswell plucked Isaak off the ground where Taako's Wall of Force dropped him. They yanked off his badge and affixed it to themself. "Well we gotta do something quick," they said. "And I don't think that worm's something we can take on, even with the five of us."

"I don't want to kill her," Magnus protested. "I want to get her back with--"

"That bubble needs to come down," Merle said. "Let's get that done."

"You think I haven' tried that," Isaak said. "I've done this loop  _thousands_ of times, I've tried everything."

"Have you tried this?" Magnus asked, calling the Chance Lance back to his hand.

"Will that pop bubbles?"

"Oh it'll pop a bubble  _real_ good."

Isaak nodded. "Then I have a plan." He walked over to the lever of Shaft B. "In all the loops I have done I haven’t pulled this lever. This mine works with a ventilation system where the hatch has to be closed over either Shaft A or Shaft B, and I’ve been afraid to open up this shaft because if the worm comes up here and killed June that would be the whole ballgame for all of us. So, if we flip this switch we can close Shaft A and open up Shaft B, and that’ll at least keep the worm from destroying the town the same way it has this some twenty five hundred times already."

"Let's do it," Magnus said.

"We've gotta try  _something,_ " Lup agreed.

Isaak pulled the lever. He was tasked to keep June safe. Roswell, meanwhile, decided to use a minecart to lead the worm away from the city, and Lup was hella on-board with helping. Magnus and Merle climbed in too.

And then, surprisingly, so did Taako. "I have to get out of this bubble  _somehow,"_  he said defensively. Nobody called him on it.

The chase they led the worm on was basically a roller coaster. Lup kept throwing her arms up in the air to whoop in the particularly good turns. Taako got the worm to chase them using Shatter, then slowed her down with Evard’s Black Tentacles, and then they reached a fork: left or right.

Lup and Taako looked at each other. "Go right!" they shouted. "Go  _right!"_

After that, things got a little strange. The tracks went up and down, their carts got separated, they fought off mouth tentacles, Merle caught her for a few seconds with a Spiritual Weapon, Magnus slowed the worm down further via the Chance Lance, a crowbar, and some rope, which led directly to the worm destroying the track Magnus and Roswell were on. Roswell got the two of them back over to the other carts but then there was too much weight. Lup cast Levitate on Roswell, who then flapped behind them like a flag.

They reached the end of the tracks. Magnus had everyone climb in one cart, then told Taako to cast Enlarge on the engine of the cart.

"We'll shoot off the end of the track and through the bubble!" he shouted.

"I hate everyone in this car," Taako shouted back, but he did cast the spell.

Roswell sacrificed themself to make sure the rest of them got out. It was beautiful, and it sucked, but Lup saw the red bird fly free of Roswell's clay and hoped.

They were launched off the end of the tracks. Magnus hurled the Chance Lance. The bubble surrounding Refuge popped.

Their cart toppled over, dumping them at Avi's feet back in the Woven Gulch. Magnus immediately tackled him to the ground with them.

The purple worm went sailing overhead like a train. Her three babies squirmed around her in joyous, ear-bleeding happiness. The mother wrapped herself around her babies and burrowed back down into the earth.

Refuge was saved. The worm was free. They had the Chalice.

Lup pumped both of her arms into the air. "Hell yeah, baby, the IRPE strikes again!" She twisted to hold her hands out at Taako. "Gimme ten, bro!"

He slapped her hands with an eye roll, climbed to his feet, and hauled her up too.

"Yay!" Magnus cheered, pulling the elves into a hug. "We did it!"

"Was that a purple worm?" Avi asked. "Lup, that guy looks just like you!"

"Aw, but the bubble's still up," Merle said. 

It was, even the hole they'd made sealed back up, with one major difference: Istus's reflection was inside the bubble.

She smiled warmly. "I’m really proud of you all for not taking the Chalice’s offer. I can’t imagine how difficult that must have been to resist."

"I don't want to talk about it," Taako said.

Istus chuckled. "Refuge is out of step with the rest of time," she said, "and I’m gonna get them back on schedule now, but…. Time passed a bit differently in there than it did with the rest of the world. June used the cup on the day that the worm attacked to loop time. She looped a single day 2,517 times. Well, they’re about to catch up." She looked down at them thoughtfully, then nodded. "You should really watch."

Istus disappeared and the bubble went transparent. Nearly seven years went by in ten minutes. They watched the town raise a sign in thanks to them, watched children mold their likenesses out of clay, watched the townspeople grow and change, love and fight, work together and rebuild. After ten minutes, time began to slow, until it was going nearly at the same speed as theirs. The town gathered around the sign they made to honor their heroes. 

The bubble popped.

Lup and the town ran at each other with arms spread. They cheered and hugged, teased Avi about being the boss, mingled and caught up and  _lived._  For a while, Lup lost track of Taako. She thought she saw him a few times, talking to Ren and Paloma, but whenever she tried to go over to him there was always someone else wanting to catch up.

Roswell was alive, a beautiful little bird free to fly the world. Lup was full of joy and relief as she spun around talking to everyone she could see.

The spinning was how she saw Taako, trying to sneak away. She ran after him. "You don't have to go," she said, laying a hand on his arm to try and make him stay.

He stopped walking, looking first at her hand then up to meet her gaze. "You don't know what you're asking," he said, sounding sad more than angry. "I do have to go. There isn't anything that could stop me."

"You saved this town, Taako," she said, flinging a hand back toward Refuge. "All those people! You saved them by saying no to the Relic, and it's coming up to the time when you'll have to save them again by letting us put all seven of them back together."

"He would never let you," Taako said. "No matter how you phrase it, what you guys say or do, he'll  _never_  let you take any of his artifacts."

"Well maybe he just needs a little persuasion." They looked over to find Magnus and Merle approaching. Magnus grinned, punching one fist into the opposite open palm. "The four of us together? Or, no, it's about beating the Hunger, why think small? We'll get  _all_ of the IPRE gang and go persuade whoever this guy is."

"I'm very persuasive," Merle agreed. 

Magnus wiggled a finger in the space between them. "We're not talking about the same kind of persuasion, bud."

Lup walked over to stand with her crew, holding a hand out for Taako. "Come with us," she said.

Taako pulled the Chalice out of his pocket. He looked at it, expression torn. For a moment, it seemed like he might give it to them. That he wanted to. That he would follow them back to the moon, back to his home.

Then he doubled over with a gasp, one hand on the Chalice, the other clutching at the stone under his poncho. He tried to speak, but all that came out was a fragmented scream. Lup lunged for him when his eyes rolled back. Before he could hit the ground, he vanished.

He was gone.

Lup shut her eyes.

Magnus and Merle got her back to Barry, who took her to their rooms and held her until she felt sturdier. She told him the whole story, leaving nothing out, sobbing through Phandalin, the ruin her Relic caused, Taako's part in it. He held her tight, murmuring nonsense into her hair. They mourned, and slept, and tried to figure out what to do next.

A few days later, the Hunger scouts found them.

Their endless countdown restarted.

If they couldn't find Taako, couldn't reunite the Light and find a better plan, this world would end.

Just when it seemed hopeless, Angus McDonald invited himself to one of their secret IPRE meetings. "I know where Taako is," he said before they could throw him out.

And that changed everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So! :3c Questions?
> 
> Next up: another interlude! Yay Kravitz!


	8. Red String Interlude II

Kravitz found Taako running across the rooftops of Goldcliff in the late evening. In the streets below, law enforcement officials of some nature and a number of dogs were kicking up quite a ruckus. Taako was in a sleek black catsuit with none of his usual mithral bangles. His ears were still lined with studs, and that damned amulet still hung around his neck, but otherwise he was dressed for stealth. Even his shining hair had been pulled back in a sensible bun.

Another day in the office, then.

Taako ran out of roof eventually, and had to pause at the edge to assess his options. 

Kravitz opened a portal to step out next to him. "You could always Blink," he said, folding his hands behind his back as they looked out over the city together.

"Gasp," Taako said, dry as a desert, "why didn't I think of that?"

"Are you on restriction again?" Kravitz asked, keeping his tone light in the way he'd learned best worked to keep Taako from clamming up and running off.

One of the elf's long ears flicked in his direction. "Taako's no amateur," he said, propping a hand on his hip and tilting his chin at a defiant angle. "Sometimes I crave that extra challenge."

Kravitz hummed a low, impressed note. "No magic at all, huh? You must've done something truly spectacular this time." He took a risk, nudging one elbow against Taako's. "Go on, I'm all ears."

Taako looked at him, then rolled his eyes. He opened his mouth.

The door to the roof began rattling, separating them from a throng of muffled shouting. 

"Maybe I'll tell you about it some other time," Taako said, looking like he was genuinely gearing up to try and jump from this roof to the next one, an old slanted thing with loose tiles.

"How about this," Kravitz said and cut open a rift. He held up his free hand when Taako seemed ready to argue. "It's not magic! Even if it were, it's not  _your_ magic. Surely this doesn't count."

Taako looked between the rift, the opposite roof, and back at the door now being hit with what sounded like a battering ram. He sighed. "Well, I guess we'll find out," he said, taking the hand Kravitz held out for him. 

They stepped through the first rift, then immediately through another, and into the outskirts of one of the glittering gold parties this town was known for. Kravitz was dressed for the occasion: his reaper suit fit in just fine with the fashionable silks and satin. Taako was not.

Now there was a choice. Taako could crash the party with him, or he could leave. Kravitz didn't drop his hand, waiting to see what the elf would do.

Taako touched the stone hanging against his chest. He shut his eyes briefly, as though checking something. "Looks like it worked," he said. Magic rolled down his body, hair to toes, transmuting his catsuit into a stunning black dress with a high straight collar and a plunging back. He let his hair down, quickly twisting it into a loose, elegant braid. The hairpins and ties turned to shimmering white gems that he used to weave light into the gold of his hair. Thief to royalty in less than a minute.

Kravitz swallowed hard.

"This is a solid alibi," Taako mused, taking Kravitz's arm again to let him lead them further into the party. It seemed that every being in the room seemed to notice Taako in a rolling wave of appreciative murmuring. Neither Kravitz nor Taako were in the business of being noticed, but Taako took to the attention like a duck to moneyed waters. Kravitz let him navigate them through the crowds, taking champagne from a passing silver tray when Taako did, nodding and smiling when Taako did, snacking on the same hors d'oeuvre.

The only move Kravitz made deliberately was to lead them onto the dance floor.

"What is it with you and dancing?" Taako teased as Kravitz spun them into a waltz.

"Well I have to be seen monopolizing your attention at some point," Kravitz said. "Otherwise what will keep all these other guests from stealing you away?"

"Oh there's already been a lot of stealing," Taako said with a wicked smirk. 

Kravitz laughed, lifting his arm to pull Taako into a graceful spin that made his skirt flare charmingly. "Your sleight-of-hand must be unbeatable," he said. "To have such sticky fingers in a room where everyone is looking at you."

Taako's ears lifted slightly in surprise. "What?"

"You haven't noticed? Hmm. Not great passive perception, then."

After a glance around the room, Taako laughed. "You dumdum," he said, voice warm with affection. "They're not looking at  _me._  They're looking at  _us."_

"...What?"

Taako hummed appreciatively. "We cut a striking picture, if I do say so myself."

Kravitz looked over the top of Taako's head to confirm, yes, all those people were also staring at  _him._  He felt himself flush--it shouldn't be possible without a beating heart, but the Raven Queen had done sillier things in the name of a laugh. Now that he was aware of it, all the eyes on  _him_ and not just his charming...date?, his composure cracked a little. It didn't do to let Taako sense weakness, so composure, even  _fake_ composure, was paramount in keeping his attention, but... It was just an awful lot of people.

His steps faltered.

Taako laughed, low and soft, shifting his stance a little so he could support Kravitz through the rest of the dance. The music swelled and concluded. They bowed and curtsied. And Taako grabbed Kravitz's hand, dragging him out onto a balcony overlooking the cliffs. He transmuted a napkin into a fan that he gently waved at Kravitz's burning face.

"You have to know what you look like," Taako said while Kravitz was working on the best way to just fling himself into the sun.

"I look like a reaper," he said, more weakly than he'd prefer.

"Hmm." Taako looked thoughtfully out over the city, still fanning Kravitz. "Is it, like, an undead thing?"

"What?"

"Can you not see yourself in mirrors? Like a vampire, or whatever?"

Kravitz tried not to show how confused he was. "I can see myself in mirrors just fine...?"

"Hmm," Taako said again, gaze cutting over to Kravitz briefly. He snapped his fan shut with a shrug. "Well, this has been fun, but I gotta--"

"Wait," Kravitz blurted. "You don't have to-- I mean, it's still early, you could-- Let's-- Damn it." He scowled at himself.

Taako burst out laughing. "You're not suave at all, are you! That's all been an act." He opened the fan again to continue helping Kravitz cool down. "Man, I can't figure your angle."

"My angle?" Kravitz echoed.

"What's your goal here?" Taako ticked a shoulder. "Everybody's got plans, my fella. You've got to want something or else you wouldn't spend so much effort sneaking up on me." His mouth curved in a joyless smile. "I wish you'd just come out and say it."

Kravitz's first instinct was to deny it. But...that wouldn't be quite true, would it? "I like you," Kravitz admitted. "I have fun when I'm with you, and I haven't had fun in...a number of years," he said diplomatically. 

"I wasn't sure if reapers were allowed to have fun," Taako said. "I thought maybe..."

"That it was a long-con, me showing up all the time? Trick you into a sense of false security and then reap your soul?" Kravitz shook his head in frustration with himself. "I can see why you would think that," he said. "Especially with how your death count shot up recently, but this isn't work-related." He tried another risk and took Taako's free hand. "You're the one thing in my life not related some way back to work."

"You met me through work," Taako pointed out. He didn't take his hand back. Instead, he cautiously, slowly wound their fingers together.

"I don't have any other way of meeting people," he chuckled. "But I was honest with you, back then. I did take your name out of my bounty book. My Queen has teased me  _mercilessly,_ but I'm not here for her." He squeezed Taako's hand. "I'm here for you. I told you I felt something, and that's rare enough--precious enough--for me to chase. Unless you want me to stop." Taako's eyes widened, and Kravitz tried to look braver than he felt. "If you want me to stop, I will."

"I--" Taako lowered his head. "Ask me why he put me on restriction," he murmured.

"Why did he put you on restriction?" Kravitz asked immediately. 

Taako took a deep breath, lowering the fan as he stepped forward. He didn't quite hide his face in Kravitz's shoulder, but it was close. "That elf," he said, nearly a whisper. "The one who looks like me."

"Lup," Kravitz said with a nod. He kept his focus on his posture to prevent himself from wrapping his arms around Taako. "I remember. Her death count went up recently, too. The same number of times as yours, interestingly enough."

"I was on assignment. Another artifact, one of the ones she calls the Grand Relics. It could control time, it made a loop of an hour right before this podunk town was destroyed."

"That sounds..." Kravitz couldn't think of an appropriate word. Horrifying? Distressing? Painful?

Taako nodded. "Yeah, pretty much. We saved the town, broke the time bubble, got away. I had the artifact, and I wanted..." He curled up slightly, pressing his temple into Kravitz's chest. "I just wanted-- I nearly gave it to her," he admitted in the breath of a whisper. "And he knew. He always knows. He called me back before I could make a mistake, but the damage was done. I'm on restriction because I wanted something outside of what I do, what I  _am._ Can you imagine what would happen if I wanted something else more than I wanted to give that elf my artifact?" He patted a hand on Kravitz's shirt, right above the space where his heart didn't beat. "This should probably be goodbye, reaper."

"Not yet," Kravitz said, wrapping his free hand over the one on his heart. "Please. Give me more time. I can free you, Taako, I know I can. Just tell me who he is, even just  _what_ he is."

A pulse of magic, dark and possessive, rocked through Taako, hitching his breath, bowing his spine. He released his transmutation magic. "Kravitz," he said, sounding like he was already in mourning. He pressed his mouth to Kravitz's, a flush of warmth in a heartbeat.

Then he was gone.

What Kravitz felt in that moment wasn't grief. He didn't feel loss, or regret, or that he'd missed any opportunities.

He felt  _rage._ Anger filled him with such swift righteousness that it peeled the flesh construct right off his bones. His cloak and cowl grew long and ragged. His scythe appeared in one hand. Distantly, he was aware that some of the party-goers had begun screaming. They didn't matter.

Kravitz looked up to the stars. "Whoever you are," he said, voice deep with the power of his wrath. "Whatever you are. You cannot hide from me forever. I will  _find you._ "

By the time the militia arrived, called by the frantic terror of seeing Death, Kravitz was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh my god i'm so tired, we're tearing up all our carpet to replace it with a really pretty laminate and i just. am a bruise.
> 
> how 'bout them disaster gays in love, huh? Next up: Angus's chapter, when we learn the identity of a much-anticipated villain. woo! not long now :D


	9. The Light of Creation

Angus McDonald was the world's greatest detective. That wasn't bragging: it was the truth. He'd cracked cases for every major police force and militia within a hundred miles of Neverwinter. His list of contacts and associates included names in magic circles, secret societies, the highest nobility and lowest blood. It wasn't that he knew  _everyone;_ that would be nonsense. But he knew enough people, in the right places, to get a toe-hold in pretty much any mystery.

So Angus McDonald was the greatest detective on Faerun. Now he was also the greatest detective on the moon, which they--apparently--needed badly.

Angus had never met Taako before he'd been turned into what he was now. But he knew the others in the IPRE fairly well, understood a bit about their fantasy psychological profiles, could see how deeply the Taako of today hurt Lup, and knew something had to be done. For a few reasons, really.

1) Taako had nearly all the Relics, and if they couldn't get them back soon, the world would end.

2) Underneath it all, Taako didn't really seem like a bad guy. Driven, certainly, with a kind of focus Angus had seen go wrong before, but not evil.

Finding Taako had to be a priority. The IPRE figured that out once Taako got the sixth Relic, but Angus had been looking from the beginning, began working on Taako's puzzle almost the moment they met back on the train. When he had his findings fairly well in hand, it wasn't hard to present them.

"I know where Taako is," he said in one of their secret meetings he'd invited himself to, and waited for the commotion to die down.

"Are you sure?" the Director asked. "It's of utmost importance that we find him, Angus. And soon."

"Or the world will end," Angus agreed, straightening his glasses. "I know, ma'am. If the Hunger's not here already, it'll be here soon. And that's not something a guy from this planar system like me would survive, so it's in my best interest to be certain. Which is why I waited so long to tell you. I wanted to be sure."

"How do you know all that?" Davenport asked, looking surprised. He squinted around at his crew, one at a time. "Who's been telling him all this?"

"Nobody, sir," Angus said. "I'm the world's greatest detective. I figured it out on my own. Truthfully, sir, none of you are very good at keeping secrets. Out of practice, I would assume."

"And," the Director asked, sounding a mixture of incredulous and impressed, "the fact that you shouldn't be able to hear us say the Hunger?"

"I recognized the voidfish static whenever anyone mentioned certain topics," he said, "and realized that there must be another one, since I'd already been inoculated. After that, it didn't take long to find the small tank you keep in your quarters."

"But how did you get in?" the Director demanded. 

"That's not what's important here," Angus said.

"Damn right!" Magnus exclaimed, leaping out of his chair. "Lucy! You said you'd put Junior back in with Fisher!"

"When it was  _safe,"_  she stressed.

"We can't fix the harm we did to this plane by relying on  _more suffering,"_  Magus said. He marched from the room.

For a heartbeat, the rest of them were silent.

"Is he going to get the voidfish baby?" Lup asked. 

"Did he name the baby voidfish  _Junior?"_ Barry echoed. 

Everyone scrambled to follow him, which was how Angus ended up giving his report in the voidfish chamber after a deeply confused Johann had been asked to leave. Magnus was up on a ladder, carefully introducing Junior to Fisher's tank. Both voidfish immediately began singing, a joyous melody Angus hadn't realized they were able to make.

"Aw," Magnus said, sliding back down the ladder. "They're hungry! I'm gonna try to find something for them."

While Magnus was ransacking Johann's desk, Angus took a notebook out of his bag and begin to detail his findings. "I was able to trace Taako back as far as his first show with Sizzle It Up with Taako. He built quite a fan following over the next few years, until he abruptly disappeared right before his largest show, which would have been held in the town of Glamour Springs. He actually had another half-dozen tour destinations lined up after that one that were canceled due to his disappearance." Angus looked up to gauge how the room was handling his summary so far. As expected, they looked both surprised and grim. 

Surprised at his detective skills, grim regarding Taako's fate, no doubt.

"As a side note," he added, looking back at his notes, "Taako had an assistant at that time, Sazed, who is also considered missing. It's relevant to my investigation that Taako had more shows planned because it indicates he didn't plan on leaving, in whatever manner leaving eventually took." Angus flipped a few pages further into his notes. "About a year after Taako vanished, a series of thefts began occurring all across the continent. At first glance, they seem unrelated. However, further investigation revealed several key similarities that make me certain when I say they were not only done by the same person, but also that person was Taako."

"But why?" Barry asked, sounding desperately confused. "He can't have needed the money...?"

Angus shook his head. "The items I'm sure he took--and even the ones that are only probably him--are all extremely valuable, extremely  _powerful_ magical items, that's true."

"Like the Relics," Davenport said.

"Just like," Angus agreed. "But they never showed up again once they were stolen. If he were taking them for the profit, they would have reemerged on the fantasy black market. Since there's been no trace of them, it's safe to assume he's keeping them."

"For a private collection," Lup said, nodding firmly. "That's what he told Ren he did, that he was curator for a private collection."

"Istus called him the Curator, too," Magnus said, finally seeming satisfied with the sheet music he'd selected. "She made it sound like a proper title, y'know? Capital C Curator."

"That name has been circulating in the less reputable circles for a while," Angus said. "And, sorry, did you say  _Istus_  called him the...? Did you meet a goddess?"

Magnus waved a hand through the air before beginning to climb back up the ladder to the top of the voidfish tank. "Eh, talked to one, became her emissaries, it's not that important. Go back to talking about Taako. I think we're running out of time on that one."

Angus opened his mouth. Closed it again. Looked down at his notes to re-center himself, and continued. "So. The specific way Taako disappears once he has his item, and the pain that sometimes accompanies that disappearance, indicated--"

"What about the specific way?" Lup asked. She was crowded close by Barry, seeking comfort from him. He'd wound an arm around her waist and leaned his head against hers in thoughtless reassurance.

"Well, the timing, for one," Angus said, checking his notes. "Never before the item is in his possession, and often within a minute or two of his success. His signatures as the Curator are the nature of the items he takes and how little evidence he leaves behind. Usually it's possible to find how he got into a building, but not back out, implying he's not being inserted but almost always is extracted. Also, the...pull that takes him doesn't leave any magic behind, or at least none that anyone knows how to detect. That implies he's not the one casting the magic at all. My current hypothesis ties all of this in with the sheer amount and quality of the enchanted mithral he wears. Most importantly, it ties in with that stone." Angus touched his own sternum to indicate the one he meant.

By their grim expressions, they already knew.

"I believe the mithral and the stone are from his employer," Angus said in summary. "I believe his employer is not one of the magical races in Faerun, but is instead a powerful magical creature. I believe the creature is using Taako to increase its collection because it is itself unable to pass undetected in the world due to its sheer magical presence. I believe it gave the mithral to Taako to both assist him in his missions and to brand him as part of a larger collection himself. Based on this information, referenced against several ancient tomes detailing the types of creatures that would fit my description, I believe Taako is currently in service to--"

"A dragon," Magnus said grimly. He let the music float down into the voidfish tank.

Angus nodded. "The dracolich, Osk," he said, resettling his glasses again. "To be specific."

Lup sat down, legs folding underneath her on the floor.

"A dracolich," the Director breathed.

" _The_ dracolich," Angus said while the voidfish ate Johann's music behind him. "According to the tomes, there used to be a few more, but Osk killed them centuries ago to consolidate power. He spent several decades causing ruin across Faerun, until an army of paladins marched again him. When they got to his lair, he was gone, escaped before a battle he finally couldn't win. Everyone thought he'd died in the meantime, but it seems now he was biding his time, waiting to find a suitable host to continuing growing his collection."

"And his power," Davenport said. He rubbed his forehead. "How did this happen?"

"He was safe when I left him," the Director said, looking sick. 

"Becoming the host to a dragon's will doesn't happen accidentally," Magnus said, sliding down the ladder to join them. "It would have taken both time and opportunity. And Taako would have had to agree."

"He wouldn't," Lup said fiercely. "He would  _never!"_

"Not if he understood it well enough," Merle agreed, laying a gentle hand on her shoulder. "But he could be tricked, honey. Any one of us could."

Lup got to her feet, looking ready to fight. Several things happened all at once:

Fisher, full of joy and good music, reunited with their baby, broadcast Johann's music across the planar system.

Junior, delighted by this demonstration of new ability, broadcast the entirety of the Director's journals.

Angus had a hundred years and more of the ceaseless, defiant flight of the Starblaster projected directly into his head.

And the Hunger, finally, struck.

 

When Angus came back to himself, the first thing he felt were the tears on his cheeks. Next, he became aware of wind rushing through his hair and over his skin, rustling his clothing, in a manner that indicated he was traveling very quickly. Someone was holding him, one arm under his shoulders, the other behind his knees, cradling him close to their chest. He opened his eyes.

His entire vision was filled with red. He blinked and tilted his head back and saw Lup, holding him like he was precious, spine straight, eyes locked forward. She was wearing a red robe--her uniform from the Institute of Planar Research and Exploration. Angus looked around and saw the others, totaling six of the original seven crew members, arrayed around him, each one of them in red. They were on the Starblaster.

 _He_ was on the Starblaster,  _the_ Starblaster, with most of the  _extra-planar aliens_ who'd come here to save them, gosh, it was just--

Lup looked down at him, something indescribably kind in her eyes. "You back with us, short stuff?"

Angus nodded, momentarily overwhelmed by her, by what she'd done, by her strength and sacrifices. 

"Good. We're gonna need that big old bean of yours when we get to Taako." Her lips pressed into a thin line and she looked back up. Back out over the horizon. "If Osk won't give us the Relics, we'll have to fight him for them. It'll take up so much time, and I don't think--" She shook her head. "Osk has to give us the Relics, Angus. He  _has_  to."

"Osk doesn't have a reputation for being stupid," Angus said, finally squirming down onto his own feet. "If he saw what I saw, he'll know about you and your mission. He'll know if you don't succeed, everyone here--including himself--will be consumed. Osk will give you the Relics." He sighed through his nose in frustration. "I just...I don't know what he'll want in return."

"If it's too big a price," she said with a casual shrug, "we'll thump him for it after the world's been saved." She grinned back at him. "Maybe now that he knows who Taako is, he'll let him go. It'll have to be more trouble than it's worth, keeping one of the Birds caged when he's known all over the world. Taako's days of sneaking are  _over."_

Angus tried to smile, but didn't respond. It seemed more likely that Osk's obsession with Taako would only grow, knowing how rare a prize he'd caught.

But that was a problem for later. For after the Hunger had been defeated.

"Where are we going?" he asked.

Lup nodded over to where Barry and the Director--Lucretia, the Journal-Keeper--were hunched over a map. "It's hard to hide a lich from a lich," she said. "Bar's helping Lucy pinpoint Osk's hideout. We've got a general direction, but we'll need a little more than that to find him. If we don't remake the Light and figure out how to stop the Hunger within the next hour, there won't be much to save." She glanced over at him. "Everyone's fighting. They're doing their best to hold off the Hunger until we can beat it for good. We have to make that fight mean something."

"You can," Angus said firmly. "I've seen what you can do, what all you have been doing for a century. You're going to fight, and you're going to  _win."_

Lup smiled, bright as sunlight, and tossed her head. "You'd better believe it, short stuff!"

"Found it!" Barry shouted behind them, following it up with a series of coordinates. 

"Hold on," Davenport said, twisting the wheel to get them on track. He thread them through the pillars of Hunger spearing Faerun, maneuvering his vessel like nothing Angus had ever seen before. 

Osk's lair was a long series of tunnels snaking behind a waterfall. They were beautiful, light and airy, with walls studded in priceless stones that glowed and shimmered as they walked by. Eventually the tunnel widened into an enormous cavern, featureless other than the gilded dais at one end. On that dais was Osk, larger than a lord's manor in Neverwinter, made entirely of bone and blue fire. His gigantic head rested on one forefoot, tilted lazily as he watched them approach.

Davenport opened his mouth.

"I know who you are," Osk said, voice sounding rough and old as his head swayed on his foot without lifting. "And I know why you're here. I cannot refuse without losing myself and my collection, my treasure, all at once to this...Hunger you brought with you."

Angus drew breath to argue. Lup put a quieting hand on his shoulder: they had no time for it.

"You may go on, through the doorway, into the halls of my collection. The items you seek are there."

"And Taako?" Lup demanded.

"The items you seek," Osk said again, head going still on its foot, "are there."

"You are generous to return the Relics to us," Lucretia said, deep suspicion in her voice even as Lup led a charge through the small door in the far wall.

"I do not wish to be consumed by your Hunger," Osk said, "so it seems there is little choice. I am confident I will see my treasure returned to me, in time."

Lucretia hesitated uncharacteristically. Angus tried to see whatever was making her so worried, but couldn't find it. 

They didn't have time.

Angus finally ran forward to join the others. Osk's treasure room was enormous, soaring up more than fifteen feet, looped floor to ceiling in shelves carved into the stone and filled with mythical items unseen in centuries. Against the far wall was another dais, this one holding a white stone table covered with a blood red silk cloth. On that table were the six missing Relics. 

Collapsed before the table, sprawled out across the floor, was Taako.

Lup ran to him with a cry, gently turning him over. Lucretia and Davenport immediately focused on getting the Relics absorbed back into the Bulwark staff, leaving the others free to check on their missing member.

"Is he hurt?" Magnus demanded.

"I don't think so," Merle said, passing a hand over him.

"Oh," Lucretia said, face pale. "Junior gave him back his memories. Do you think--?"

Lup pushed the hair off Taako's forehead, tucking it behind his ear. "Time to wake up, goofus. We gotta save the world."

Taako stirred, blinking up at her. For just a second, his expression filled with wonder. Then it collapsed into something terrible, raw and broken. He sat up to fling his arms around her, crushing her close with his face pressed into the curve of her shoulder.

"It's okay, Koko," she murmured, gripping him tight. "It's gonna be okay, but he's here. John's here."

Taako pushed away from Lup, not quite letting her go, to look at Lucretia. "You can't cut the bonds," he said, nearly frantic. "We need them, you can't--!"

"I know," Lucretia said, dropping to her knees by him to reach out. He flinched, eyes still wild, and she sat back with a broken-hearted expression. "I know," she said again, soft and wretched. "Lup told me about the prophecy. We have to find another way, but I don't-- I don't know, Taako, I can't see another way--"

Magnus touched her shoulder. "We'll figure it out," he promised. "We've got the light now. There's not much time, but there's enough for this." He offered her a crooked smile. "You can ask for help, Lucy."

Taako's shoulders were heaving like he'd run a marathon. "You were gonna--" His gaze darted between them, one at a time, before settling on Angus like he'd seen a ghost. "She was gonna," he said, pressing further into Lup but keeping his eyes locked with Angus. "The plan was to put a bubble, a shield, around this plane, one that would protect it from the Hunger but that did so by being absolute enough to sever the bonds between this plane and anywhere-- _anywhere--_ else. If the shield is that impregnable--"

Angus felt his eyes widening. "Cast it around the Hunger instead!" he said, wanting to step forward and hug Taako but stilling himself when the elf flinched again. "Sir, that's genius!"

"Don't say that, I was gonna--" He choked on his own gasp, doubling over. "On the train, I was gonna--"

"It's okay," Lup said again, tangling a hand in Taako's hair. "Can you keep it together a few more hours? We'll have a solid breakdown right after, I promise, but first we need to--"

Taako grabbed Lup by the shoulders, shaking so hard it rattled her too. "Osk said there's something wrong with the Astral Plane, he laughed about it, laughed at the Raven Queen, did John already get--"

"It won't come to that," she swore, but it didn't have any effect on the panic rising in Taako.

Merle touched Taako's shoulder. Even Angus felt the Calm Emotions that swirled through their little group. Taako's breaths started to come a little easier. He pressed his forehead hard into Lup's collarbone, then got unsteadily to his feet. Lup helped him, taking a step sideways when he squared his shoulders and shook out his hair, visibly pulling himself back together.

He smirked at Merle. "Not bad, old man."

Merle smiled back. "I had trouble standing without a wobble for about an hour after I drank the voidfish goop, so I expect you'll need some decompression time later." He nudged his elbow into Taako's thigh with an eyebrow wiggle. "I'm still the  _herb guy_ , if you need any help with that. Also that was my last spell so nobody get hurt until we figure out hooking all the planes back together."

Taako's laugh sounded too much like a sob for comfort, but everyone ignored it. He propped his hands on his hips. "How are we going to do this?"

"Can you do it?" Davenport asked Lucretia. "Can you cast your spell around the Hunger instead of the plane?"

Lucretia nodded definitively. "I can. It'll work." She held the Bulwark Staff out so they could see the Light of Creation, glowing in the cage at the top. "I just need a little time. And I...I would have to be on the plane that I’m casting the spell over in order to do it. We would have to get up there, into the Hunger."

"The Starblaster's parked outside," Davenport said. "I can make that happen."

"Well then what're we waiting for?" Merle asked.

"Let's go!" Barry said, leading Lup and Taako back out the way they came, through the main hall where Osk watched them go with a low chuckle.

Outside, the world was being attacked by shadows, both in pillar form and by creatures pouring out of the pillars. Four of them were huge, towering behemoths that would be able to wipe out a city in no time. 

"We need to make a quick pit stop," Lup said grimly. 

"I need at least another twenty minutes to power up the spell," Lucretia admitted.

"I'll give you fifteen to get those assholes sorted," Davenport shouted to the rest of his crew. 

The other five looked at each other, sharing a grin of challenge that had a century of in-jokes tangled up inside. Lup and Barry clustered with Taako, leaving Merle and Magnus to each form their own team.

"One each," Magnus shouted. "First one done gets to take down the forth!"

"You're on!" Lup said, readying a group Feather Fall with one arm would around Taako's waist.

"Wait!" Merle cried, rushing into the cabin. "Hold on, now, just gimme a minute." He hurried back with a bundle of red in his arms that he tossed at Taako with a wink. "Time to work some color back in that old wardrobe."

Taako immediately shrugged off the long black cloak he'd been wearing, replacing it with a red robe that fit him perfectly. He lifted his hands to press the sleeves of the robe against his face and breathe deep. Nobody said anything about the tear that streaked down one cheek.

Lup brushed it away with a swipe of her hand. "That's fifteen minutes!" she called.

"More like twelve," Davenport corrected.

"Thirteen," she said with a grin. "My lucky number!" She grabbed Taako's waist again and leapt over the side of the Starblaster. At the last minute, Angus grabbed Barry's coat to get in on the Feather Fall.

Instead of scolding him, Barry just twisted to lock an arm around his shoulders. "Keep close," he said. "And stay out of trouble!"

"What're we doing here?" Taako asked, looking uncertain where they stood in the glassed ruins of Phandalin.

"I know how we can get some reinforcements, and turn this whole thing around," she said. "Do you trust me?"

Taako nodded immediately. "Of course."

Lup laid out her plan: The Hunger won by separating the planes from each other. If Taako could transmute the perfect circle of glass left behind after Phandalin, he could open a door to one of the other planes, break the seal, weaken the Hunger, and call in reinforcements. 

Angus didn't let himself think of how impossible Taako's task was. Instead, he wondered which plane Taako would connect them with, who would come help them and how.

Barry and Lup left to go fight off incoming Hunger beasts, and Angus stayed with Taako. The first few times he tried, Taako couldn't do it. His magic stretched father than Angus would have guess, but it couldn't go all the way, not the full half-mile circle.

A small bag fell out of Taako's pocket. It had a lock that popped open.  Taako looked at it in surprise, panting with exertion, then opened the bag.

Angus McDonald was the world's greatest detective. He had seen a lot of things, much of it stuff other people wouldn't believe. By the time he joined up with the B.o.B., he thought he was pretty immune to the impossible

Then Taako used a magic item given to him by a goddess to manifest a mirror and an entire food wagon so he could learn to make a type of food that turbo-powered him into  _exploding_ the wagon and then transmuting all the glass into sapphire while an elevator piloted by a man who used to be their enemy helped two figures from legend hold back a flood of darkness.

So. Maybe not  _entirely_ immune.

The reaper Kravitz appeared in the sapphire circle. He looked stunned, then overjoyed, to see Taako. They ran at each other with much more familiarity than Lup's story from the Crystal Kingdom would have indicated.

"Aw yeah, little brother!" Lup crowed while Kravitz and Taako kissed. "Get it!"

"Yeah but maybe get it later," Barry added, backing away from the towering dark figure marching toward them.

Kravitz cupped Taako's cheek in his hand. "Are you off to save the world now?" he asked with a smile.

"Hell yeah," Taako agreed, grinning widely up at him.

"Just come back afterward," Kravitz said. "No more running for a while."

Taako's smile went crooked.

He didn't make any promises.

The Starblaster landed behind them. "Who's coming and who's staying?" Davenport shouted. "Lucretia's ready!" Merle and Magnus were already on board.

"Barry and I are gonna stay down here and keep the fight going," Lup said, resting her hand on Taako's shoulder. "I think they'll need you, if you're up to it."

Taako tossed his hair, unbound and flying wildly around in the rising wind. "I'm Taako," he drawled. "The greatest transmutation wizard who ever lived. Who  _doesn't_ need me?" He looked down at Angus. "Stay safe,” he ordered.

Angus nodded.

Taako ran up the gangplank onto the Starblaster and was gone.

Angus would never know exactly what happened when five of the seven IPRE Birds took their fight to the Hunger. Sometimes Magnus would tell him about what happened right before, about facing the Royal Beasts again. Merle tried once or twice to share his last parlay with John Hunger, but never with much success. But the actual final showdown? That he heard about only in bits and pieces. Davenport played down his skills as a pilot, perhaps the best to ever live in any Planar System. Lucretia's god-tier binding spell was a secret she didn't seem ready to share.

All he knew for sure was the description of their wondrous Bond engine letting them call upon their allies, of the final stand and the Immovable Rod. Of the three-being rush into the heart of darkness as Lucretia cast her spell and set them, all of them, free.

The Seven Birds flew from the Hunger to land here, against all odds, on a planar system with Angus. This was where they turned and fought. This was where they won.

After that, a celebration swept across Faerun, through all the different planes, jubilant with victory. If Taako still seemed a bit out of sorts, he hid it by sticking close to Lup, making any stumbles appear to just be part of him leaning into her. He shied away from any touch that wasn't her or Kravitz, who joined them after securing Legion back in the Eternal Stockade. 

Angus didn't care, though. He'd solved the mystery of where Taako was, bringing him back to his family and enabling that family to save the whole of creation. There was time, now, all the time in the world to re-acclimate Taako to friendly touch and comfort and everything he'd been denied in service to Osk.

And then, like in a fairy tale, the clock began to strike midnight. Taako immediately pulled Lup into a bone-crushing hug.

Lup lifted her hands to grab the back of Taako's red robe. "What's the deal, Koko? Gonna turn back into a pumpkin?"

"Let it go, okay?" he said, nearly a plea with his face hidden in her neck again. "I'm glad that you found me, and we saved the world, and all that, but let it end here. Alright? Promise me."

"You're not making any sense," Lup said, dread rising in her eyes as she lifted them to Barry. "Babe, your necklace is getting really hot, do you think you could--"

"Shit," Barry said in a tone of someone realizing something awful. "Oh fuck, Taako, is that pendant a--"

"Promise!" Taako snapped.

Lucretia grabbed one of Taako's shoulders to wrench him around. "It's over," she said. "It's done, Taako, the world is  _saved,_ you don't have to--"

"It  _is_ saved," he agreed with a heartbreaking smile.

"But not for me."

The clock struck midnight.

And Taako was gone, his red robe pooled on the floor like a bloodstain.

Still an agent of Osk.

"Well," Kravitz said from across the room, a glass of champagne in either hand. "Something will have to be done about that."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's monday SOMEWHERE. So technically this is on-time and not early. Listen my fabulous beta Hawk just gave me the edits and I have no self-control, Hawk grew up with me they should have known better. SCHEDULES ARE FOR CHUMPS.
> 
> Bad guy reveal! Thoughts?
> 
> The next chapter is called Taako :D


	10. Taako

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM SO EXCITED

Taako came to on the side of the road. He was bound and gagged, left in a bush like garbage. It was dark, and raining, like the whole universe had decided  _now_  was the moment to piss on him. At first, he thought he was alone. But then he heard voices, out on the road. One of them he didn't recognize.

The other was Sazed.

Taako picked up his head to try and see what was going on. Had the unknown person kidnapped him, and Sazed was here to offer ransom? But--no. It didn't look tense. Sazed and the other man--old, human, a hood pulled up to hide his face--seemed to be joking. Sazed was standing by the Sizzle cart. The old man held out an enormous bag of money, and Sazed took it. Sazed looked over and saw Taako watching.

He  _smirked._

Holy shit, was this-- Was Sazed  _selling him?_

Fury filled Taako, impotent and caged as he struggled against his bonds. Whatever Sazed had given him to knock him out rolled in his stomach, forcing him to go still or blow chunks all into the gag and over himself.

It didn't matter if it was now or ten years from now, he was going to get out of this and  _absolutely murder--_

The old man--the  _buyer--_ shook hands with Sazed and came over to crouch by Taako. To  _inspect the merchandise,_ apparently. He grabbed Taako's chin, wrenching it back to study his face, pushing so hard Taako couldn't squirm away. Taako tried to communicate his hate through glaring alone. The man chuckled. "He'll do nicely, once he's broken."

"That might take some time," Sazed said with a sneer. "He's pretty full of himself. Maybe rough him up a bit to start, knock his ego down a peg or two"

"Not a bad plan," the old man said, stroking his thumb along Taako's jaw with a speculative look. "I'll be sure to preserve his beauty, though. It is quite the draw."

Taako's anger spiked into raw, indescribable fear. His heart kicked up like a bird's as his lungs fought to drag air in muffled gasps. He tried to get away, redoubled his fight. 

It got him nowhere.

"I wish you better luck than I had with him," Sazed said, climbing up into the wagon.

That  _fucker_.

Hate boiled in Taako's blood, sending sparks glittering in his eyes and at his fingertips. The old man--the  _slaver--_ jerked back with a curse as the electricity jumped from Taako to him.

"You didn't tell me he has magic," the man snapped.

Sazed shrugged as he got the reins in order. "Just little things. Nothing you can't handle, I'm sure. He uses it to show off. Honestly, he's a such a stupid--"

That was when the dragon ate Sazed.

It appeared from nowhere, dropping out of the dark, drizzling clouds to snap its teeth into Taako's former assistant, swallowing him without a word of protest. The old man had enough time to gasp, and then he went right down the dragon's gullet, too.

Or, well. What  _remained_ of the dragon's gullet.

It was huge, the size of a house or more, made entirely of bone with blue fire glowing in its eyes, down along its spine to collect in its stomach. The dragon swallowed Sazed and the slaver, but the fire was what ate them.

Taako's fear ratcheted up another few notches, tipping him straight into mindless animal panic. And then--

He laughed. Hands and feet bound, gagged with what tasted like a dirty sock, lying in thorns and mud, sold by a trusted assistant, bought by a slaver, about to be eaten by a dragon.

What else was there to do?

He laughed.

He laughed until tears streaked down his cheeks, until his stomach hurt from it, throat bared to the sky and rain as he tilted his head back and his shoulders shook.

Guess he wasn't making that big show in Glamour Springs after all!

The dragon picked him up, lifting him until they were roughly at eye level.

"Little wizard," it rumbled, thunder and rock-slides and eruptions in the words. "Why did you not fight them?"

Taako began explaining, right through his gag.

The light in the dragon's eyes rolled. It lifted a free claw up close so Taako could saw his ropes open. Once his hands were free, he yanked the gag from his mouth. Then, instead of answering the dragon, he drew in a deep breath and spent the next five minutes hurling every foul word and terrible name he could think of at wherever Sazed's spirit when once his body got eaten.

He spent a few more minutes on the slaver, then whipped around to face the dragon still holding him in one gigantic forefoot. "And you!" he shouted, flame licking from the ends of his hair as he shook his fists and flailed. "If you're gonna eat me, thug, you'd better be gods damned sure I'm dead first or I will lodge myself in your magical fire throat like the fantasy chicken bone from hell and you will  _never know another moment of peace!"_

The dragon, shockingly, chuckled. "You are feisty," it said, voice now more like a wizened old man's than a great infernal beast's. "Do not fear, elf, I will not eat you. Your captors have sated my hunger, for now. Before I release you, though, will you tell me why you chose to let them capture you in the first place? Why not turn your magic on them? I am quite curious to learn what would cause you to ignore your greatest weapon when it might have been of use."

Taako blinked. "Uh." He looked around, back into the dark of the forest. Then he turned to the dragon. "...Me?"

"There is no use lying," the dragon said. It carefully poked one person-sized claw against Taako's chest. "I have been around long enough now to sense magic in a being, both the untamed sort that means sorcerer, and the organized kind that is a result of many years of study. You have a little of the former, I'll grant you. But most of yours is organized. You're a wizard, elf. Why would you let them treat you this way?"

"I'm not," Taako blurted, shock running under his skin like a tremor. "I-- Maybe I know a few cantrips, sure, but nothing big. I've only started messing around with it in the last few years! I use it for a little extra pizzazz when  _cooking_. I'm not a wizard, I'm a chef!"

"Whatever else you are, child," the dragon said with such deep certainty Taako couldn't doubt him, "you are a wizard. And a powerful one, if I'm not mistaken. Hmm. I have never heard of a wizard forgetting their own powers. Then again," he mused, head tilting to one side, "I have been out of the world for a very long time, and you mortals come and go so quickly. Perhaps it was a development I missed."

"If I had real magic," Taako said, thinking of how easily Sazed had gotten the drop on him, his own powerlessness in the face of the slaver, uncountable people in his past who had done him harm and gotten away with it because he had no path to retribution, "I would have been using it. I wouldn't have forgotten it. I wouldn't have let something... _take_  it from me."

"All the same," the dragon said, "it appears that is exactly what something did."

"Then I have to get it back," Taako hissed, fingers digging furiously into the bone of the dragon's thumb where it wrapped across his chest. "If it mine, I  _want it_."

"Well now." The dragon settled back on its haunches. "How do you plan on doing that?"

Taako blew a frustrated breath through his nose, glaring at the dragon in its stupid glowing eyes. He didn't answer, though, because he didn't know.

The dragon chuckled. "Such spirit. I admire that in a being, you know. I have been quite bored, these last thousand years," it said. "This might prove an interesting diversion for a year or two. Shall I help you?" it offered.

"What's in it for you?" Taako demanded. He kicked a foot out toward his show wagon. "It's been made  _viscerally clear_ to me that, apparently, nobody does anything without some deeper personal benefit on the line. So what is it!"

"Hmm." Blue fire curled out of the dragon's nostrils. "Okay," it said. "Here's what's in it for me: I have a large, but stagnate, collection of powerful magical items. I've been looking for a strong wizard to curate my artifacts. If we can break whatever hides your magic from you, or find another way to rediscover it, you would fit that description perfectly well. Perhaps I hope that you would prefer curation to cooking, once we are done."

"Will one of those items be able to fix me?" Taako asked.

The dragon snorted. "No. The collection is not for use. I am a dragon," it said. "I do not use, I  _hoard."_

"Then how are we supposed to dig my magic back out?" he demanded.

"We break the spell," the dragon said, "or we rely on muscle memory."

A chill swept down Taako's spine. "...Am I going to die doing this?"

"Not if you're the wizard I suspect you are," the dragon said. "But if you fall short of that estimation? I imagine it's a likelihood. So now it's up to you, little elf." It held him out toward his wagon. "I will set you on your way, or you may choose to come with me. If you return to your show, I will not renew my offer. You will have to muddle through your magic issues on your own. If you come with me, you will be agreeing to stay at my side until your magic is rediscovered, or until you die."

"And then I become your curator," Taako sneered.

"If you wish," the dragon agreed. "If you do not wish, you would do a poor job of it, and I would rather have no new artifacts than ones gathered without care. Our deal relates to your magic," it pointed out. "Anything that comes afterward is...negotiable at a later time. Perhaps you will reclaim your magic and be a weakling. I would not wish to be stuck with you in that case."

"Rude," Taako squawked, kicking both legs in outrage.

The dragon chuckled. "Choose, little wizard," it rumbled. "The dawn will come soon enough, and I am not a creature well-suited to the light."

Taako looked at his wagon, at the dreams he'd built there, the brand he'd been working so hard on, the fucking t-shirts without Sazed on them that led to this moment. "Burt it," he said. "That Taako died with Sazed." He looked up at the dragon. "We'll see who this Taako ends up being."

In a rush of blue fire, Taako's life up until that moment went up in flames. 

"I think this will work out just fine, Taako," the dragon said.

"Do I just call you The Dragon from here on out?" Taako asked. 

"I am Osk," he said, "the last remaining dracolich in Faerun."

Another chill ran down Taako's back, a premonition or deja vu of some enormous magnitude that he couldn't...quite...

Osk spread his wings, testing them a few times before launching himself into the air, trailed by wisps of blue fire, Taako held securely in his fist.

Taako didn't let himself look back. That future was ash.

A new one was unfolding.

Finding his magic was-- It. 

It wasn't a spell blocking his magic. Osk ruled that out within a day. So they almost immediately began working on Solution Two: muscle memory. The actual  _process_ was _..._

Listen, having magic (again) was  _great._ When Osk first brought it up, Taako figured maybe he'd be level three or four, closer to ten if he was really dreaming big. When they got to twelve, he was ready to stop there, satisfied. But Osk was strict: They set out to find his magic-- _all_  his magic--and they wouldn't stop until they mapped every speck of it.

The way they did that was...  _Brutal_ came to mind a few times.  _Impossible_  occurred him once or twice around level thirteen.

_This is going to kill me,_  Taako thought as they pushed into level fourteen stuff.

Taako was a level sixteen transmutation wizard. It took them a year to work out all the specifics of his repertoire. At first they thought maybe evocation, but no. Taako had a fondness for evocation magics, but his strength was transmutation. 

Osk didn't sit Taako down with books and a loaner wand and let him try things until he figured out what worked. Osk used his own magic to create a series of challenges designed to force Taako into using his spells. Oh, Osk helped, in his way, monitoring Taako's innate reaction to danger, telling him when it seemed like his magic was rising up, and what shape it wanted to take. He let Taako read through his library during his off hours, which Taako did with a kind of desperation he usually associated with running for his life.

When Taako used his reading to throw a spell his body, his magic, already knew, it was the best feeling in the world. Euphoric, like finding a home in himself he hadn't known he lost. In time, he came to recognize when his magic was familiar with a spell and when it was trying to learn a new thing, and that saved him a lot of. Well. Osk called them  _fresh starts_.

There were a lot of fresh starts, at the beginning. Once or twice, an attack of conjured infernal enemies almost  _fresh started_ Taako straight to death. A not inconsiderable percentage of that discovery year was spent in recovery, patching himself back together, waiting for his body to rally for another go. Another fresh start.

Recovery ended up being Taako's only down time. He never intentionally injured himself, sure that Osk would be able to tell, that faking to get time off would make the next round that much worse. So Taako took recovery when it came about naturally, strangely grateful for it, grateful for the injuries that gave him room to breathe for a little while, and was careful not to wish for more.

When he was healing, Osk let him explore the cave network that made up his lair. It was beautiful, soaring rooms connected by crystal caverns. Osk had old, unused servants' quarters he let Taako clean and live in, assuring the elf he could decorate them however he pleased. Decoration took a lot of time, though, a lot of energy better saved for healing, for fighting, for seeking out his magic. So he left things pretty simple, the bed, the wardrobe, all that. He didn't spend a lot of time in his rooms anyway.

Osk also let him look through the collection, and that was  _much_ more interesting. They were dusty, the ones that could tarnish were riddled with it, and there was no system of organization that Taako could discern. At first he thought Osk's insistence that the artifacts not be  _used_ meant he also couldn't  _touch_ them, or else that they were probably all cursed and it wasn't worth the risk. That ended up not being true: Osk didn't mind if they were handled, so long as the power they contained belonged only to him. A lot of them  _were_ cursed, but the layers of spells built up by Osk through the centuries dampened or contained or something the magical qualities of the items— _all_ the magical qualities, good or bad.

Taako spent months cleaning the artifacts. It gave him something to keep his hands busy, in this place without a proper kitchen (He'd have to figure that out eventually. Taako wasn't made to live on wild game cooked over a fire and foraged fruit alone.), while he thought through spells. He got closer to magical meditation while polishing rare bejeweled goblets than any other time, could reach for and find the seat of his power as long as he had something in his hands.

Osk seemed pleased. Taako preferred Osk pleased to indifferent or outright dismissive. When Osk was pleased, he tended to remember that Taako was a living  being with bodily needs. Osk gifted Taako with an enormous magical soaking tub the first time he cast Blink. He gave Taako a wardrobe of beautiful sleek black clothing, a chest of trinkets to stud his ears and decorate his wrists, soft blankets and rare books.

When Osk was anything other than pleased, Taako often ceased to exist for him. That usually translated to Taako patching himself up and waiting to get better on his own for a few days or weeks. He discovered pretty early that he could regain Osk's attention by caring for the artifacts, which made him less, uh. Strict. When they started out on another fresh start.

Once the artifacts were back in top condition, Taako began an organizational endeavor. To order the collection, he had to know what each item was. That led to research in the library, which led to another amazing, frustrating discovery: He could read five languages. Common and elvish made sense, but dwarvish? Goblin?  _Draconic?_

Osk delighted in Taako's draconic accent, laughing at him for almost a full day before switching to that language exclusively. Taako adopted Osk's specific dialect as quickly as he could, seeking the tilt of the dragon's head that meant he'd done unexpectedly well.

By the end of that first year, Taako knew himself. Really  _knew_ himself, in a way he hadn't even dreamed had been missing. The magic stolen from him at some point in his forgotten past came to his hand as easily now as any ancient master. Osk told him he was free, now, to do as he wished, to travel the world and learn new magics if that would make him happy, or to return to his cooking tour. If cantrips had made him popular, what could he do as a level sixteen transmutation wizard?

When Osk released him, Taako felt... Not panic. He was powerful, now, not someone who could be easily betrayed or hurt. The world was his oyster, waiting to be devoured. But--

Taako had never stayed anywhere as long as he'd stayed in Osk's lair. It wasn't home; nothing that belonged this entirely to another being had room for anyone else's home. All the same, it had  _purpose._ Taako could maintain the collection, perhaps even begin expanding it, could retain the knowledge of what each item was, its history and use. Osk would never need him, but that didn't mean Osk didn't have a use for him. Taako could go where Osk could not, and Osk would reward him for it.

Maybe he'd even make Taako a kitchen.

Osk released him, and Taako squared his shoulders. He lifted his chin, defiant, determined. "I'm not done with you," he said, all bravado and flare.

The dragon chuckled, laying on his dais with his chin resting on one forefoot. "I had hoped you would say that," he admitted. "You are more treasure to me than even my collection, little elf. That, I could rebuild, in time. But you? What a surprise you have been." He rolled his head. "Well. So you will be my curator."

"I'm already basically doing it," Taako said with a shrug. He showed all his teeth in a vicious smile. "Now I'm just ready to get into acquisitions too." He spread his hands forward with a sharp flick of his wrists to punctuate the motion. A table rose out of the ground, capped by a detailed map of the nearby countries. "Where do we start?"

Taako's instinct was to make a name for himself. He didn't want to get caught, but having a reputation would be delightful. It wasn't his nature to fly under the radar. Osk didn't appear to have an opinion one way or the other, so long as Taako got the artifact back to his lair intact. Whether or not Taako was intact also didn't seem to matter, but that had never been on Osk's radar before so it not appearing now wasn't surprising.

Artifacts lost to time were harder to find. Taako had to do research, scout locations, prepare for hiking and spelunking, keep his trap-senses on full alert. Since nobody lived in the ancient ruins where lost artifacts tended to be anymore, Taako didn't even get the chance to dress up. They were long hunts, solitary, physically and mentally demanding and so, so isolating.

It was a good feeling, though, bringing the artifact back. At first, Osk had made Taako show him the artifacts as soon as he returned to the lair, but over time he relaxed that policy. That gave Taako time to shine the items up, return them to their full glory before displaying them for Osk. Old as he was, Osk already knew what each one was before Taako presented it, but he still let Taako put on a full production complete with history, powers, legends, everything anyone ever knew about whatever it was he'd found.

Collecting known items was trickier. Theft came with guards, alarms, mazes, sometime dogs, an endless list of ways his plans could go wrong. Instead of too few people, there were often too many. During the first year or so, Taako reveled in the entire experience. He loved crashing parties where he knew the objects would be displayed, loved the thrill of charming a man (or woman, if the occasion called for it) into letting him see it up close, inadvertently inviting him to examine the entire fantasy security system. It made him feel invincible. It made him want to have a  _name_ people could be afraid of. It made him proud.

The pride got him in trouble.

It should have been an easy job. Another necklace from a bygone age used to prove status. Nobody in the family that owned it even knew what it  _did._  But Osk wanted it, so Taako knew, and he spent a week preparing to acquire it.

Everything went wrong. His hobnobbing with the family raised suspicions. Their security increased overnight, right before Taako went in for the job. They had defensive spells he wasn't expecting, physical bars and spikes he wasn't expecting, a fleet of fucking  _dogs._

Taako got the item. He also got maybe a little almost dead. Osk did not nurse him back to health, but he did leave Taako alone to lick his own wounds. After that, Taako gave up on wanting a name. He needed to be alive more than he needed a reputation, and his goal was to collect artifacts, not be an internationally known thief. 

If Osk noticed Taako's known-item acquisitions going a lot smoother after that, he had the grace not to mention it. He also, around that time, built Taako a gorgeous full-sized kitchen. The odds of it being a "congratulations on growing out of your dumbass phase" present were about 50/50. That also marked the time when Osk started...not rewarding him with enchanted mithral, and not arming him or protecting him with it either, but...

It helped to have the mithral, with the way it increased his defense, buffed his spells, helped his blood clot and so on. Osk wasn't sentimental though. He didn't really think about how Taako accomplished his missions as long as they got done. So it wasn't likely he gave Taako an earring or bangle to help him. Dragon mithral stood out to certain entities more effectively than a brand. The look Taako got from necromancers or priests? Yeah, that might explain the way he dripped mithral like sweat as time wore on. 

But so what? Who cared if Osk was possessive? Osk was a  _dragon._ Dragons owned things. Taako was his own person and not a thing, but the mithral genuinely  _helped._ What did it matter to him if it maybe meant something else to a bunch of classes he never even hung out with? Taako did his job and Osk rewarded him, and that was all fine.

Life went on that way for a while. As more of Taako's needs were met inside the lair, he found himself visiting towns less and less often. And then, one day, he realized he hadn't been around other people except to steal from them in more than six months. He struggled to care about it, but what out there couldn't Osk give him? As long as he kept the collection in order, added to it, pulled his weight, the dragon kept him in utter luxury. The world outside was filled with cruel, selfish people.

The world inside was too, but it was a cruelty he knew. It was a selfishness he chose to participate in. At least Osk made it clear what he thought about Taako: a treasure when he did well, beneath notice when he missed his mark. That was something Taako got, something that made sense.

So fuck the outside, basically.

Around year three, Taako was dying. For real this time. He had found a lost artifact, and an ancient spell he didn't recognize collapsed the entire shrine right on his head. Several of his limbs were broken. A shard of metal was embedded in his lower abdomen. He had his one working hand wrapped around the hilt of the sword he'd come for. His hair, twisted up that morning in intricate, sturdy braids to keep it out of his way, hung heavy with the blood dripping down his face. Taako laid there for hours, pinned to a pillar, clinging to the sword as his life faded. The sun set.

Osk came for him.

"It seems I have at least one more buried treasure to seek on my own," he chuckled, pulling the walls and roof and floors away with casual, thoughtless strength. When he got to Taako, he drew him off the metal spike and away from the pillar the way Taako would pull meat from a skewer. Osk did not abide weakness, but Taako couldn't stop the cry that tore from him when Osk collected him from the wreckage.

He held onto the sword with all that remained of his strength. If he didn't have the sword, Osk would leave him.

Somewhere over the wildlands between the temple and Osk's lair, Taako's body finally gave out. He fell into darkness and his hand at last went limp.

Shockingly, he woke up. He was still in pain, laid on the floor at the foot of Osk's dais. It felt like he was in a puddle, which he chose not to think about.

"There is not much I can do for you," Osk told him. "I am a being of death, not life. I cannot heal you."

_Duh,_ Taako thought. He let his eyes drift closed.

"You must pay attention to this part," Osk said, rocking Taako's body with a gentle nudge from one claw. "If you do not accept, it will not work, and I do not think you will survive."

Taako forced himself to look at the dragon. He had a pendant hanging from his claw by a long mithral chain. The stone was beautiful, black and red wrapped together, glowing with some kind of internal power.

"This is my phylactery."

If he'd had the blood for it, Taako's heart would have raced. A phylactery was where a lich stored its power. Without it, Osk would be functionally mortal, unable to reassemble if destroyed. This was as good as or better than looking directly at Osk's heart. A distant part of Taako felt honored to see it. A much closer part felt a little bitter. Of course Osk would only trust him with this when he was dying.

"Look at me, treasure," Osk commanded, more of that dark rumbling from their first meeting rising with his power. "You think sometimes, I'm sure, that I don't care for you, or I forget you. I am very old, and time often slips from me. It is true, at times like that, I am forgetful. That does not mean I do not care. You are the greatest treasure to come to me in centuries, and I will not forsake you so easily."

Taako felt useless tears roll down his cheeks to join the puddle beneath him.

"Take my phylactery, Taako. Bind it to yourself. Tie your life to mine, your power to mine, and you will live, so long as I do. In return, I will live, so long as you do. Our magic will be as one. We will always have a sense of each other, so that I might help you in times of crisis." He lowered the phylactery until it hovered just over Taako's heart. "Take it, treasure. Take it and live."

And it was so.

Bonding with the phylactery changed as many things as it didn't. Taako still hunted the artifacts on his own, still got hurt, was still mostly on his own. It was...nice, though, the first time Osk pulled him out of a sticky situation. He didn't do it often, just when it seemed like Taako was about to be thoroughly fucked. The dragon did, however, develop a habit of pulling Taako back to the lair once he could sense the item was secure, which was nice. A good time-saving effort.

Things went on that way for another few years.

Then Osk called him up to his dais to give him an assignment. Which had  _never_ happened before.

"I have reason to believe," he said in his slow, inevitable way, "that there is a powerful magic cloaking this item. Well. Six items, to be precise."

"What kind of magic?" Taako asked, already pulling together a mental list of the best books for cloaking research.

"I am unsure. I have never witnessed similar. It only affects the living," Osk said. He watched Taako with faint curiosity. "Not long ago, there were wars waged for control of these items."

Taako frowned in thought. "How not long ago? A hundred years?"

"Less than a decade."

"Horseshit," Taako said immediately. "I would remember any artifact wars that recent."

"That is the nature of this magic," Osk said, rolling his head on his foot. "It makes people forget. More than that, it makes them incapable of remembering."

Taako's breath caught in his throat. "That sounds kind of like what happened to my magic, the first time around."

"It is my opinion that the two are related," Osk agreed.

"...Will it take my magic again?"

Even if it somehow does," Osk said with a rolling shrug of his wings, "I have a thorough knowledge of you now. I could set you to rights within a matter of days. Besides, as I said, it only affects the living." He stretched out one great claw to tap the phylactery, making it heat and glow. "You are protected."

"Can you find my knowledge of the items?" Taako asked. "Give that back to me, too?"

"That would be dangerous," Osk said. "The mortal mind is delicate, even one so organized as yours. But I can share  _my_ knowledge of the items. It should feel very much like the knowledge is your own, and it ensures that you are safe from any similar magics that might attempt to take it from you."

"Alright." Taako spread his arms. "Lay it on me."

"One at a time," Osk chuckled. He reached out through the phylactery, weaving tendrils of his magic into Taako's.

The first was an unknown item. It was thought, in certain circles, before the knowledge was lost (taken), to power a trap called Wonderland. 

"If no one remembers it," Taako mused, "do I have to be subtle?"

Osk's rumbling laugh was answer enough.

Taako summoned his soul-bound glaive, checking it for readiness, just in case. "I'll be back soon," he said, and Blinked away.

Wonderland as it was, with that lost knowledge impacting people's recollection, appeared to lure people in with a promise of their heart's desire. Get through Wonderland, win your prize! Taako wasn't looking for a prize, though, or anything his heart could want. He was looking to ruin Wonderland, tear it down to the ground and walk away with the item powering it. All he needed to do was figure out the trick to the place, and it'd be smooth sailing.

As he was inspecting the building, a couple of adventurers walked up. One of them seemed surprised to see him, wanted to bring him along, keep him safe. Taako smiled.

Guinea pigs.

This'd be a piece of cake.

When Taako returned with the Animus Bell, Osk had erected a special stone table with six display stands in the main collection hall. Taako grinned and set down his prize, smug as the cave's layered spellwork finally started dampening the incessant whining thrall emanating from the Bell. Just as he'd expected, a piece of--

The headache hit him from nowhere. It dropped him where he stood, just shy of directly on top of the new table. He had no concept of how long he laid there. When he came back to himself, he was still on the floor, but at the foot of Osk's dais.

"Awake at last," the dragon rumbled. "Are you unharmed?"

Taako touched the back of one hand to his nose, drawing it away to find blood gone cool and tacky. Not fresh. He cleaned it away with a brush of magic while listening for the Bell's thrall for a moment. It was silent. The cave and all its layered spells doing its job, no doubt. "I'm fine," he said, climbing to his feet with all the grace he could manage. "What happened?"

"Hmm, I believe it might have been that strange magic pushing against mine. It is trying to warp your mind," he said, "to cut out what my will protects. Your living magic has no defense. The phylactery, though, is trying to resist. It is possible these attacks will continue if you persist in this quest."

"Where's the next item?"

"You should rest," Osk said. "The attack--"

"Where," Taako said again, hand on his hip and tossing his hair, "is the next item?"

Osk chuckled. "Still so stubborn, my treasure. The next item is not set in one location the way the first was. Instead of knowing a where, I know the what. It is called the Oculus."

Taako's whole year went about like that. Osk sent him after one of those forgotten items, projecting knowledge through the phylactery. Once Taako had the artifact, Osk called him back to the lair, and the magics fought. It never got any worse, but it never got any better either. 

Eh. Taako'd deal.

The annoying thing was those... _people._  That woman from the Bell apparently wasn't the only one seeking the artifacts. There was a whole  _crew,_  one of whom was a lich. A lich who had the audacity to wear Taako's face and claim to be his family and just--

Nope. Taako didn't have a family.

Taako didn't kill them because killing was messy. Not just in a physical way, but in the attention it brought. These weirdos were clearly powerful, obviously connected, immune in some way from the forgetting that touched everyone else when it came to the artifacts. So killing them? That'd be time-consuming, to do it right, and Taako didn't have the attention to spare at the moment.

He thought, once or twice, of telling Osk about them. But-- What would the point be? Osk wouldn't care unless it started impacting Taako's performance. That group of weirdos was Taako's problem, not remotely important enough for the last dracolich in Faerun.

And if sometimes Taako almost believed them, if that elf held his hand like she'd had years of practice, if the burnt-out shell of Taako's heart once or twice gave a throb when he looked at her, at them, aching at the familiar way they said his name--

Well.

That was Taako's problem too.

In the end, he got all the Relics and they got  _none,_ so what did it matter? It didn't. None of it did.

Then a wave of song passed through not just Taako but every being on every plane in this planar system, followed by--

Gods, followed by--

Taako collapsed under the weight of a hundred years and more of memories, of an elven lifetime never spent alone, broken by the jagged way who he was now wouldn't fit with who he had been before. He woke up and Lup was there, Lup,  _Lup_ who he'd lost, who'd been his only reason for living, his whole home and family. Lup who called him her heart, Lup who was his  _soul,_ Lup Lup Lup.

He would have killed her, if it had been expedient. He would have killed any of his IPRE family, all of them, if killing didn't draw so much attention. They had no idea who he was now, what he'd done, what he would  _still do_ in the future, bound to Osk and the phylactery.

They were not going to leave this planar system, Lup explained. They were going to fight, said the small child he would have murdered back on that train, and they were going to win. The Starblaster would make this world a port. Its crew would make it their home. Taako would never escape Osk, never untangle the mess he'd made of himself when left to his own devices. Despair welled in him. How could he have tied himself to--

Merle calmed him with the last of his magic. The Hunger had already separated the planes, then, cutting Merle off from Pan. This was what Osk had meant earlier, when he was laughing at the Raven Queen. He knew something was happening, something big. Something world-ending.

He let them take the Grand Relics, knowing they would be destroyed as part of saving the planes. He let Taako go, dark laughter echoing behind them as they ran for the Starblaster.

Taako saved the world. He reunited the planes, brought Kravitz back, faced the Hunger and won. Then he spent a final few hours desperately ignoring who he was now.  _What_ he was. When Osk called for him, Taako clung to his sister and begged her to let him go.

He and Osk watched each other for a long time when Taako returned to the lair. For just a moment, Taako allowed himself a ridiculous daydream, where he was able to forget this life, take the Temporal Chalice and say no to Osk back then. Just roll the dice, try his luck with the slaver, with Sazed, with anyone who wouldn't have the cunning to bind him body, magic, and soul.

But those were the childish wishes of an elf who didn't exist anymore. An elf Taako had methodically killed over a series of years.

"My spell slots are out," Taako said to Osk. "I'll need a few hours before I start the next search."

Osk chuckled. "Take as much time as you need, treasure," he said. "It must be overwhelming, to have two sets of memories warring in your mind. To send you out as you are now would be an inexcusable waste of resources. Let's agree to assess your progress next week."

"That should be enough," Taako agreed. He didn't try for a smile; at the moment, he felt like he might not ever smile again. Osk wouldn't mind. Osk's grasp of mortal emotions was generally pretty weak anyway.

At least Taako wouldn't have to pretend.

Taako didn't let himself cry in his long bath. He didn't cry while tending his wounds, or pulling on his most luxurious robe, or while he waited for sleep to take him. He worked hard on feeling nothing.

When the dark of sleep took him, he welcomed its oblivion.

They came for him. The stupid fucking--

The whole of his IPRE family  _plus Angus_ (who was a _little boy_ ) stormed Osk in his own fucking  _lair,_  demanding he release Taako immediately.

Taako had genuinely, stupidly, thought they wouldn't do it. They'd met Osk, they knew how powerful he was, how profoundly outclassed they were. The whole thing was so utterly unexpected that when Osk called him to the dais, Taako was wearing an off-shoulder sleeping gown with his hair hanging loose and  _no shoes._  He could feel how blatantly the surprise must show on his face.

"What the fuck," he said when he saw them arrayed before the dragon. 

"We're here to rescue you," Magnus said stubbornly.

"Or trade for you," Barry added.

"Or whatever it takes," Lup agreed with a vicious smile.

"Are you all  _stupid?"_ Taako demanded. "Does no one have any sense but me!"

Behind him, Osk chuckled like thunder. "They certainly are persistent, treasure. But then, so would I be, if someone tried to take you from me."

"Oh no," Lucretia said, looking absolutely ruined. "You-- When you were talking about getting your treasure back, you weren't talking about the Light at all, were you?"

"There are many fine artifacts in my collection," Osk said. "Any of them can be replaced, in time. But a curator? Especially one as powerful as Taako?" He rolled his head on his foot. "I have waited many centuries for a find like this one. I will not lose my treasure so easily as that."

"This isn't a fight you can win," Taako said, shoulders back and chin tilted up. "You're years too late at this point. We're bound, now. This is who Taako is, from here going forward."

"The phylactery," Barry said, the words like a death knell. Taako inclined his head. The stone hung around his throat, against his heart, like it always did. Like it always would.

"That can't be all there is to it," Lup protested, hands clenched at her sides. "You wouldn't have agreed if you'd--!"

"It doesn't work if it's coerced," Taako said with a shake of his head. "It's done, Lup." He cast his eyes over all of them, committing them to memory. For the last time, he gave them a wide smile. "Time to go, bubalas."

"No," Lup snarled. She brought out the KrEbStAr. His heart clenched to see it, part regret that he would never use it again, part relief that Lup would be its new master.  "I came here for my brother, and I'm not leaving without you."

"Then you will not leave at all," Osk said, lazy and with deep finality. 

Taako whirled around to face him. "Please," he said. "They're fucking stupid, but they don't have to die."

"They have made their own choice in the matter," Osk said. He didn't lift his head. "We still have our bargain, treasure. If they attack, there will be only one result."

"Go  _home!"_ Taako snapped at his family, turning back to them with desperation spiking through his heart. "You don't know what you're doing, just--!"

Magnus struck first. Of course. He pulled Railsplitter off his back and set himself up to attack Osk using Taako as an ally to boost his strength. Osk still did not lift his head.

Taako met Magnus, glaive to axe, an opponent on this particular field. He pushed Magnus back, pushed all of them away, with a Wave of Force, using their surprise to his advantage. Maybe he could just get rid of them, maybe he could force them all the way back--

"Kill them," Osk said. The phylactery burned.

Taako obeyed.

There were more of them, but they didn't want to hurt him. Taako had no such compunction. For the most part, they seemed to be trying to corral him, to get him pinned to one side so they had a free path to Osk. Taako couldn't let them do that. No matter what he wanted or how it hurt his heart to fight them, he  _couldn't._

It was the boy, of all people, who turned the tide. While Taako kept his focus on the others, the child pulled out a little wand. There wasn't anything a human that young could cast that would hurt him, so Taako ignored him. As it turned out, it wasn't a starter wand.

It was a Wand of Paralysis. 

Taako failed to save against it, too surprised, and hit the ground with a graceless crunch. His glaive went clattering away.

"Good job, Ango!" Magnus called, leading the rush against Osk. "You know what to do!"

"You got it, sir," Angus said, too serious for his age. He dragged Taako across the room, out of harm's way.

On the dais, Osk finally stood.

"You need to get out of here," Taako said between tightly clenched teeth. The spell was weak enough that he could shrug it off from about the waist up. In time, he'd free his legs, too. But there wasn't any time. 

"Don't worry, sir," Angus said. "We have a plan!"

"And how does that plan fit in with Osk begin  _immortal!_ Even if you kill him, he'll just regenerate, that's what liches  _do._ Barry and Lip are liches, they should know better, what the fuck are you all doing here!"

"It's going to be okay," Angus assured him, such simple belief that Taako wanted to believe him.

But Taako also knew Osk, knew what he was capable of, knew how thoroughly his family was fucked. It didn't matter what they did, Osk would just come back. He would always come back.

Osk started to win.

He bashed Lucretia against one wall, flinging Davenport after her. They rallied, of course they did, they were Birds who'd beaten the Hunger, but no matter how hard they hit Osk, he just kept regenerating. Maybe if he couldn't--

Oh. Oh shit, fuck, gods damn.

Maybe if he  _couldn't._

Taako turned his hands to stone. He rolled from his side to his stomach so the phylactery thumped onto the floor.  Despite its power--maybe  _because_  of its power--the phylactery was still just a rock. Infused with the spells Osk used to turn himself into a lich, yes.  A conduit for his powers, and now Taako's too, sure. Bound to him and binding, yup, nature of the beast.

And still just a rock.

Taako laced his hands together, making a bludgeon, and brought them down upon the stone. The first blow made Taako flinch, made shock roll down Osk's spine, left the dragon open for an enormous blow from Magnus.

"You dare!" he roared, broken earth and molten stone in his words.

Taako brought his hands down again. Tiny cracks spider-webbed through the phylactery. 

Osk  _screamed_ his rage, fighting to get past the IPRE and at Taako. "I should have eaten you! I should have left you for the slaver! Miserable traitorous mud rat! Do you know who I _am_?"

"Yeah," Taako panted. "You're a fucking dead guy. And you should have let my family go."

It only took one more blow.

The stone shattered without any drama. It didn't explode or echo or expel a wave of force. Taako brought his transmuted fists down on it for the final time, and it broke clean in half.

Deep in his chest, something fractured. Taako drew in a sharp surprised breath, feeling like all the air had been knocked out of him,  _feeling_ as his vitality and magic start to bleed from him like a mortal wound. 

Angus touched his shoulder. "Sir?" he asked in a tiny voice. 

The stone broke anticlimactically, but Osk provided enough of a reaction to more than cover it. 

He turned on Taako with a roar that shook the entire cave system, smashing through the line of battle at last. Taako could hear items in the collection in the next room toppling to the ground. The intensity of the sound crippled every person in range.

Osk turned on him, the way Taako deep down always knew he would. The bone dragon covered the space between himself and Taako in only a handful of thundering steps.

"This is my last spell, pumpkin," Taako murmured.

"Sir," Angus said, sounding desperate, trying to cling to him.

Taako summoned Garyl, directly underneath Angus. Garyl looked...Garyl looked  _right,_ for the first time Taako could remember. No, not true, he looked right for the first time since...

Osk raised one enormous foot. Lup was screaming, racing for him with her arm stretched out. Taako looked at her, so full of love and regret and peace he'd thought for years didn't exist. With the phylactery broken, Osk was weakened. Mortal. He could be defeated. Taako had shattered his soul to save his family. And it was okay.

It was okay.

_Lulu,_ he thought. He didn't reach for her, didn't want that to be the last thing she saw. Instead, he smiled. His eyes slid closed. Someone nearby cried out. Light swept over him with an almost physical presence. Everything faded.

Everything stopped.

Taako fell into the black.

Osk brought his foot down on Taako like he was an insect. Lup was running and terrified and she knew she couldn't make it. She was going to have to watch her brother die for real, in a plane they couldn't escape, without the option of returning to his recorded state. He was going to--

Lucretia, thrown into the wall behind Taako, raced over to his prone body with a cry. She flung out her arms, lifting her diminished Bulwak Staff, and cast a shield that bubbled over them like a golden sun. Its holy light burned Osk's foot when he stepped on them, banishing the blue fire he would have used to turn them into ash. He screamed and pressed, trying to shatter the spell. Lucretia grit her teeth and shook and stood firm.

Magnus hurled the Chance Lance at Osk, not just once but again and again, recalling it almost the moment it struck just to heave it at his enemy again. Istus's Blessing burned the dracolich as surely as Lucretia's shield. 

"I will save you for  _dessert,"_ Osk growled at Lucretia, at Taako, at the pair of them kept safe from him against his will and desire.

He finally turned, though, back to Magnus and Merle, to Davenport and Barry, to the battle he thought he could win. Fucking  _idiot._

Lup slid through Lucretia's barrier on her knees, that much closer to immediately putting hands on Taako. She rolled him onto his back, washing Prestidigitation over him to make him look like himself, to vanish the blood and dirt and--

His eyes were closed. She shook him, and he didn't respond.

"Wake up," she begged, tangling her hand in his hair to pull him close, forehead to forehead, to try and will her life into him. "Wake up, wake up,  _wake up--!"_ She could feel her lich form writhing under her skin, pouring out of her eyes and mouth as the one anchor in any world that could hold her together, her own heart, struggled to take his next rattling breath.

Somewhere beyond them, the rest of her crew was still fighting. Angus scrambled through the barrier back over to Taako, crying messily, dropped to the ground when Garyl dispelled after Taako closed his eyes. Merle was on the other side of Osk from them, protected by Della Reese and surrounded by a swarm of Roma Downeys. Even if he could get around Osk, how many spell slots had he burned? What kind of healing magic did he have left?

Somebody had to help her. Help  _Taako_ _._

"Please," Lup gasped. "Please, anyone. Please."

A rift opened. The battle by the dais froze in surprise as Kravitz stepped out, in his skin and regular suit, looking surprised and worried. Kravitz, who had left them on the moon to petition the Raven Queen so he could help them in this fight. They were supposed to still be in negotiations, he was supposed to be the big guns, they hadn't even known if he would get permission to be here--

Kravitz saw Taako. It took him a few empty heartbeats to really register the situation. "Oh," he said. "I...felt him. That's why I came through, I felt him in the Astral Plane. I thought he needed help. I thought his soul was finally reaching out. But-- Am I here to  _reap him--?"_ He looked at Lup, the boiling rage in his eyes peeling the skin off his bones, turning his cloak long and ragged as his scythe appeared in his right hand. "Who?" he asked, a rumble under the word like a million crows taking flight.

Lup couldn't speak. She cradled Taako against her to feel the whisper of his breathing on her throat.

Angus pointed. "The dracolich Osk."

Kravitz shut his eyes, head tipped back like he was basking in the knowledge of who his enemy was. "Osk." His book appeared before him, floating mid-air, pages flipping violently until they stilled with an abruptness that was almost jarring. He didn't read the book; he seemed to know what it said all the same. His skull wasn't capable of smiling, but something like satisfaction rolled off him like an aura. "Oh, I have been looking for you, Osk." His voice lowered, dipping into an accent Lup didn't recognize, something deep and ancient. "I will make you regret ever setting your eyes on him."

"Name yourself," Osk hissed, curving around to face Kravitz. "This is my lair, and I will have no other beings of death here!"

"Tell me how you know this elf," Kravitz commanded, turning to meet the dragon. "What gives you the right to trap him here, to take his life? This is your final confession, Osk. Make it worthwhile." Back on the other side of the room, Merle flung a Zone of Truth at Osk. 

The dragon, focused on Kravitz to the exclusion of all else, consumed by his own rage, failed to save against it. "I found him wasting his talent," Osk said, prowling a circle around Kravitz, who tracked him without moving so much as an inch. "Making a spectacle of himself in front of useless mortal crowds. I could sense his magic, ordered and forgotten, and decided to add him to my collection, in one way or another. His assistant planned to kill him, so I arranged to purchase him instead. Then I ate the assistant, and my human simulacrum, to endear myself to the elf, who never spent a moment doubting me thereafter, no matter what torture I put him through in the name of rediscovering his magic. I found him," the dragon reiterated on a snarl, "I bought him, he belongs to  _me!_ "

"Are you monologuing right now?" Magnus demanded. He flexed his hands on Railsplitter. "I didn't need another reason to kill you, you undead fuck. I already wanted that pretty bad. Somehow you've gone and made it  _worse._  I am going to turn you into  _dust."_

Osk ignored him, laser-focused on Kravitz. "Name yourself!" he screamed, shaking the hall again with the force of it.

Kravitz's book snapped shut. "I am Kravitz," he said, voice like a death knell. "Emissary of the Raven Queen, lord of her Bounty Hunters, first in her retinue, the Grim Reaper. And no thanks to you, you fucking monster, nearly the boyfriend of Taako the Wizard, the missing Bird."

"You're dating the Grim Reaper?" Lup said, pressing her forehead to Taako's with a sob. "Why didn't you tell me!"

"And I," Kravitz concluded, shadow swelling with the cry of ravens, the echoing laughter of Death, "am going to fucking kill you now."

Kravitz didn't fight Osk the way he'd fought Taako back in the Miller Lab. It wasn't playful or curious or absentminded. He fought the way Lup imagined an emissary of the Goddess of Death would, with cruel efficiency and savage purpose. Osk, unable to regenerate, unprepared to deal with Death himself, almost immediately lost the upper hand. Kravitz took him apart bone by bone, scattering him across the room. Lup watched with a dark glee she would never have believed herself capable of. She didn't want Osk dead, she wanted him  _ruined,_ and Kravitz was as good a stand in as any Bird.

Near the end, she felt a weak hand grasp the front of her shirt and looked down in shock to find Taako looking back. Her eyes immediately filled with tears. "Koko," she gasped, clutching that hand fiercely. "Gods, Koko, stay with me, we're gonna get you outta here, you're gonna be--"

"The," he panted, wincing at the agony of speech, "collection..."

"Don't worry about it," Lup cooed. "Stay with me, we'll figure it out later."

He tried to shake his head, something desperate in his eyes. "The collection, the...lair...tied to...can't let him..."

"So the lair will collapse when that fucker dies," Lup said, hate burning in her chest. " _Good."_

Taako made a weak sound.

Angus scooted close, face serious as any human twice his age. "Sir," he said, low and insistent, "sir, it's okay." He slipped his hand into the one not clasped to Lup's chest. "Squeeze once for yes, sir, and do nothing for no. Do you understand?"

Taako squeezed both their hands.

"Sir, is Osk's magic sustaining this cave system? In other words, is he keeping this mountain from collapsing on these rooms?"

He squeezed again.

"As I understand it, there are a number of legendary items in the next room. Is that true?" Another squeeze. "Are you worried about us clearing the caves in time?" Taako kept solid eye contact with Angus but didn't squeeze. "Are you worried about what will happen when Osk's magical system collapses on the legendary items?" Again, Taako's hand stayed limp. Angus made a small frustrated sound, looking around as though a clue would pop up. "Oh!" he blurted. "No, of course, legendary items wouldn't-- Sir," he said quickly, "Are some or all of the items  _cursed?_ Is Osk somehow dampening their magical properties? And if that dampening fails, are you worried about the fallout?" It felt like Taako meant to squeeze hard, but all Lup got was a terrifyingly weak press of his fingers. "Can you tell me what will happen?"

"Big," Taako panted, "fantasy...bada boom..."

"We can't kill Osk," Angus told Lup frantically. 

"We can't  _not_ kill Osk!" Lup cried. "Look what he did!"

"Ma'am, the area of effect a  _single_ legendary item is capable of--"

"Kid, you don't have to lecture  _me_ on magical items, okay, but I don't think we can stop--"

"We have to try!"

"Too late!" Lucretia shouted, diving over the cluster of Taako, Lup, and Angus to add her own body to the layer of defense she'd woven.

Osk died much the same way his phylactery did: with no fanfare, followed by an enormous problem. The dragon's blue fire went out, cut short by Kravitz. His skeleton collapsed across the floor, turning almost immediately to ash. It happened quickly, quietly.

The cave system began to shudder. Lup felt the dragon's spell network fading, falling all around them. The magic he'd spent centuries weaving to dampen the effects of so many powerful object so close together buckled. Chaos started to bubble through the cracks.  This was bad.

Taako's hand slipped out of hers as his head lolled loosely on his neck. Lup couldn't feel him breathing.

This was  _very bad._

"We have to get out of here!" Davenport shouted. "Magnus, grab him and let's  _go!"_

Lup met Angus's eyes and knew they would never get far enough.

Kravitz slumped to his knees by Taako, looking at his slack face with open despair. "I fought so hard to free him," the reaper said. "I thought if I could just get to him fast enough, I could figure the how out later." He shook his head. "I thought I would see him and know the answer. I thought I would just  _know."_

You'll know. You'll  _know,_ Lup.

"Holy fucking shit!" Lup shouted. She plunged a hand into her shirt to draw out a vial of liquid so clear it mostly didn't appear to have anything in it at all.

Kravitz shielded his eyes, leaning away like it was bright as a star. "Where did you get that?"

"Istus!"

"When did you meet--?"

Lup ignored him, yanking the stopper out to pour the entire vial down her brother's stupid throat. At first, nothing happened. 

"Come on," Magnus chanted, clustered with the rest of their family just behind her. "Come on, Taako!"

It started with a sound. Clear and high, it rang through the caverns like a single chime of a small silver bell. Light blossomed in Taako's chest, radiant and dense, the color of the mithral given to him by a dragon. It spread to fill his whole body until he was a beacon. He stood, long hair whipping around him like he was in the middle of a hurricane none of the rest of them could feel. For a moment, Lup thought everything was going well for once.

Then that invisible wind kept kicking up. The power mounted, and Taako didn't do anything with it. It grew and grew as the light intensified and Lup didn't know what was going on but she did know Taako.

He just needed a little direction.

She reached out to grab his hand. Beside her, after a small hesitation, Kravitz took the other. Angus stood to press a hand against his back, then the whole IPRE  family was jumbled close to touch him, his hip, his shoulder, anywhere they could reach.

Lucretia was the last one. "I'm so sorry," she whispered. "Please live. I can't make this right if you don't live." She rested just the fingers of her hand on the bony knobs at the top of his spine. After a shuddering breath, she shut her eyes and flattened her hand.  

"You got this, bro," Lup said, pushing every ounce of her belief into him. "And we've got  _you_."

The light burst from him, spreading through every inch of the lair.

Taako was not a dragon. But he stood in a dragon's place, sustaining its power, anchored in an eight-pointed star by those who loved him. Taako lifted his hands, and the rock that had broken lifted back into place. He tilted his head back, and the spells woven by Osk settled where they belonged. The rumbling stopped. The collection was muted, saved, back to being nearly inert. Taako touched both hands to the center of his chest. The light faded, receding into him, and Taako looked around.

"What the fuck," he said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Fuck* Sazed, am I right? The next arc is called "Recovery in the Ever After". I hope you like it!


	11. Recovery in the Ever After

**Lucretia**

Once the…glowing, and earth-moving, and magic-stabilization settled, what was left was Taako, blinking at them with a sense of disbelief that made Lucretia’s heart ache. He looked around, strangely lost, ears twisted low and back, and Lucretia wanted to comfort him.

He flinched back when  _Lup_  reached for him though, so the odds of him accepting Lucretia’s touch was, just. It was dismal.

“It’s gonna be okay,” Lup said, one hand raised like she was trying to approach a spooked deer.

“What?” Taako said. He rubbed his forehead with one hand. “I don’t… What was…?”

“I actually,” Lup admitted, her own ears twisting low, “don’t know.”

“I think I can help,” a disembodied voice said, followed by a beautiful woman with long white hair appearing on the dais.

“Istus,” Kravitz said, bowing politely. “As always, the Raven Queen bids me send along her warmest greetings.” He looked slightly annoyed when he straightened up. “It would have been nice to have a hint that you had your eyes on this situation, though. The past few days have been…stressful.”

Istus, Goddess of Fate, giggled into the scarf she was knitting. “You know better than most that I don’t deal in promises, Kravitz,” she said with a smile. “This could have gone a number of ways.” She beamed at Lup. “My emissary did very well in remembering her gift in time.”

“Your what,” Lucretia said.

“Oh, uh, yeah.” Lup hooked a thumb at Merle and Magnus, then swooped it around to include Taako and herself. “That’s a thing that happened in Refuge? The four of us agreed to be her emissaries.”

Lucretia pinched the bridge of her nose. “So when I asked you to fill out those reports and not forget any details,” she began.

Taako cut her off by having his knees buckle abruptly.

Kravtiz and Lup dove forward to catch him. “Beans,” Lup hissed as they lowered him carefully to sit on the ground, legs folded underneath him. His head swayed on his neck like it was too heavy to hold up. Lup pushed him around until he was pillowed on Kravitz’s shoulder. Kravitz had an arm wrapped firmly around his waist. The other hand cradled his cheek, keeping Taako tucked safe in the curve of Kravitz’s shoulder. Taako wasn’t unconscious, but it wasn’t clear if he was capable of following the conversation.

“What happened?” Lup demanded of Istus. “What did I give him? Is he going to be okay?”

“The  _what_ is a little hard to describe,” Istus said, setting her knitting needles down. “He will be okay, yes. Think of it as a kind of magical exhaustion. The potion sort of…keyed him into the lines of fate, giving him the raw power to hold up Osk’s lair. All of those items? That whole collection?” She indicated the adjacent room with a lift of one hand. “They’re dangerous, yes, and must be protected from falling into the wrong hands, but they’re also meant to be  _used._  There are right hands for them, too. By shoring this place up with Fate, Taako will now be able to sense when an item is needed and get it where it should be.” She smiled again. “I’m quite pleased he agreed to be my emissary back in Refuge, or else this wouldn’t have worked.”

“Can I help him?” Lup asked.

“Yeah,” Magnus agreed, “me too, I wanna help.”

“All us emissaries could probably do something to lend a hand,” Merle said with a wise nod.

“You might have to,” Istus said while she examined her scarf with a faint frown. “For a little while, anyway.”

“What does that mean?” Lucretia asked, heart in her throat.

“I’ve already said too much,” Istus said, shaking her head a little. “Taako will need to sleep for a while to regain his strength. What happens after that is up to you.” She passed her eyes over them, the Seven Birds, Kravitz, and even little Angus. “All of you,” she said. “Please give the Raven Queen my love,” she added to Kravitz. “I should be free for a visit soon.”

Kravitz inclined his head, and Istus was gone.

The silence she left in her wake was profound. Then Taako snored, a massive sound, breaking the spell.

Kravitz chuckled and gathered Taako into his arms to stand. “I’ll lay him down somewhere comfortable,” he said. “Then I should go, too. My Queen will want to know about Osk.”

“The Starblaster is outside,” Davenport said, gesturing toward the exit. “He can be both safe  _and_ comfortable there.”

But the further Kravitz carried Taako from the collection, the more Taako started to fade, in a literal, transparent body way. They ended up having to lay him down in the sparse room they assumed had been his for the last six or so years.

Lucretia hated the room on sight. She spent barely ten minutes watching Lup watch Taako sleep, then whirled away. It took hours to get up to the moon base and back. Hanging her portrait of the IPRE crew on his wall, though? Branding this empty space with something that tied him to his family?

Well worth it.

**Barry**

When Barry finally got together with Lup all those years ago, he knew what he was signing up for. Dating a twin came with a certain set of expectations: Lup was a package deal. Barry wasn’t dating Taako, but he’d gotten a brother for sure. Taako was as much a part of his day-to-day life as Lup, if in necessarily different ways. And Lup always had a second person she was looking after. Barry was her number one most important person, but that was a tied spot with Taako. If Barry had been the sort of person to feel resentment over having to share Lup’s attention, or had a jealous nature, he and Lup would never had worked out.

But Barry’s greatest instinct was to love. He adored Lup without reservation, and he loved the rest of his IPRE family. He especially loved  _Taako._  Taako, who thought so poorly of himself and spent so much effort pretending the opposite. Taako, who hid a squishy center under layers and layers of studied disinterest. Taako, who would die for any of them in a heartbeat.

Who  _had_ died, or would have, in crushing the phylactery that was bound so tightly to his own life.

So, yeah, Kravitz put Taako to bed, and Lup crawled right in with him, and she was set to stay there until her brother woke up. Duh, of course, it was  _Taako._  When she was tired, she slid down under the blankets, one hand on Taako’s chest, forehead touching his shoulder. When she was awake, she scooted back up, leaning against the headboard, folding her legs so she could be as close to Taako as possible.

The twins had cuddled up like this a lot over the last hundred years. Whenever one of them was hurt deep, down to their last few hit points, the other lived to basically soak up the injured twin’s body heat as proof of continued existence. And they didn’t leave for  _anything._ Before they let the others into their world, this meant the healthy twin put themselves on a thoughtless fast. Once the IPRE graduated from coworkers to family, though, feeding became one small thing they didn’t have to worry about.

Kravitz put Taako to bed. Lup took up sentry. And Barry went to the kitchen.

He wasn’t a particularly good cook, but even he could whip up a sandwich. And the kitchen here was  _amazing._ On the one hand, he expected nothing else from a place where Taako lived. On the other hand, this had clearly been made with magic. Osk had formed the cabinets and counters from solid stone, decorated with different precious gems and metals.

But why?

What benefit was there from building a kitchen? Osk didn’t seem the type to spoil for no reason. Had Taako earned it somehow? Was it part of a trade? What did Taako do to earn this kind of luxury?

The kitchen was well stocked, again not unusual for Taako. Very unusual: it didn’t look particularly well used.  There were none of the pots and pans and spills Barry associated with a Taako kitchen. The Taako he remembered made delicious feasts, a huge mess, and considered his contribution done. Everyone other than Lup was on a clean-up rotation. Only fair, considering how hard the twins worked to feed them.

This kitchen, though. It was pristine. So either Taako had developed the habit of keeping his kitchen in perfect order, or he didn’t spend a lot of time cooking. Neither option was particularly encouraging.

Once he had a plate full of assorted sandwiches cut into manageable triangles, Barry headed back in to Lup. She had busied her hands with Taako’s hair, pulling it all to one side to weave it into a series of braids that curled down his side. She looked up when Barry settled on the edge of the mattress by her hip. “Thanks, babe,” she said, snagging a triangle to stuff it in her mouth before going back to Taako’s long hair.

“Do you ever think of growing yours out?” Barry asked around some sandwich.

Lup shook her head, making her angled bob sway, and swallowed the last of her wedge. “Nah. This shit’s a lot of work. Taako’s always been more into than I am, anyway.” She picked two of the braids up to flick them like the reins on a horse. “I don’t have the attention span. Better things to do,” she concluded with a smile.

“It’s nice of you to take care of it while he can’t,” Barry said, feeding her another piece.

“If he doesn’t toss and turn, he won’t need it,” she said around the sandwich. “If he  _does_ flop around like a goober, it’ll take days to untangle. I’m really just paying it forward to myself, ‘cause he’ll make me help him, and that  _blows._ ”

Magnus came into the room before Barry could reply. “I found his closet,” the fighter said. “It’s a bit emo for him.” Magnus held two slim outfits on hangers up against his own body, switching between them with a frown. “There’s not any color in the whole wardrobe,” he added, letting the outfits sag toward the ground.

“Osk’s doing,” Lup growled, curling defensively over Taako’s head.

“I’m gonna get him some scarves,” Magnus announced, marching back out of the room toward the closet. “Scarves’ll liven this right back up.”

“There’s a lot about this that isn’t really  _Taako,”_  Barry said.

Lup snagged another sandwich. “He’s been through a lot,” she said, brushing her free hand over the crown of Taako’s head. “We all have. Shit like that, it changes you. Sure, maybe he’s not exactly who we remember, but neither are we.” She lifted her eyes to his, solemn and sad. “Looking for me all those years, all that dying and coming back before Taako sacked Wonderland and you found Lucretia, didn’t that change you? Being trapped in the Umbra Staff sure changed me.” She shrugged. “So maybe we have to give ourselves time to find each other’s worn edges again. It kinda sucks, after a hundred years, to have to learn stuff all over, but hey, at least we get the opportunity.”

Barry gave her a lopsided smile. “Excellent points,” he acknowledged, “as usual. I guess I just want to… I don’t know.” He rested his hand on Taako’s closest knee. “I want to go back to the Starblaster, all of us together. I want to look at him and see my brother, I want him to look at  _me_ and see a brother. I miss my family, Lup.” He ducked his head. “Kravitz couldn’t even take him out of the caves, what if he never—”

“Babe.” Lup leaned forward to wrap her hand around Barry’s where it was clutching Taako. “We  _won._  We beat the Hunger and we all survived. That’s something I never thought would happen! My dumbo brother’s dating Death, who is deffo gone over him, four out of the seven of us are emissaries for Fate, and Lucy’s got a whole moon base full of loyal employees. We’re going to figure this out. Maybe we can’t see how now, but it’s  _going_ to happen.”

“Promise?” Barry asked, pressing his face into Lup’s shoulder.

She looped and arm around him. “I’ve got both my boys, alive and well and/or recovering.” She gave him a firm squeeze. "Everything’s going to be fine.”

Magnus bustled back in then, arms loaded with a rainbow of scarves he'd dug out of every nook and cranny on the Starblaster, all different patterns, some of them clashing so bad they hurt to look at. He dumped the pile on Taako, then took a step back to look pleased.

Lup laughed, immediately grabbing the gaudiest one to start weaving it into Taako’s braid. “Everything’s gonna be  _amazing.”_

Barry believed her.

**Davenport**

When Taako woke up a few days later, he seemed…

Davenport was a good captain. He knew his crew, their strengths and weaknesses, knew when they were doing okay and when they were suffering. And he knew what it looked like when they were faking.

When Taako woke up, he tried to pretend he was okay. Although he still seemed weak on his feet, he gave the others a grand tour of Osk’s caverns—Taako’s caverns now, if Istus could be believed. (He felt a little bad even thinking it, but you didn’t spend a hundred years traveling a hundred systems and not find a set or two of gods who were all about lying. Istus—this Istus—didn’t seem to be one of them but paranoia never hurt anyone.) If he had to lean on Lup the whole time, nobody called him on it. He had a brightly colored scarf wound into his hair, another draped over his shoulders like a shawl, and smiled hard enough that his cheeks must have ached. He was trying really hard to pretend he was fine, that the situation was fine, that everything was just  _fine._

Nobody called him on it.

Also nobody was fooled.

Davenport took the tour and watched Taako. Watched how he slid out from under any touch that wasn’t Lup’s, which he tolerated only when she was helping him walk. He watched Taako avoid cooking, or making plans, or talking about the future, or joining in the elaborate math Lup and Barry were doing to work out his connection with the lair. Heard him putting off Kravitz’s visits. One time he even caught Taako standing in the artifact room, holding himself in the darkness, looking so small and lost.

And oh, how he shook when anyone said the word  _treasure._

Davenport was a good captain. He knew his crew. He knew what Taako looked like when he was trying to shut himself off, disengage from his reality so it would hurt less. Taako’d done this off and on through the hundred cycles, particularly after cycles when things had broken bad for one or more members of the crew. This whole fucking mess sure as shit qualified as  _breaking bad._

So Taako didn’t feel safe. Didn’t feel like he could trust the reality under his feet. That made sense.

On the third day after Taako woke up, Davenport found Taako near the front entrance of the lair, one hand on the wall, looking out into the waterfall that hid them from the rest of Faerun. He had the other hand stretched out, nearly to the water. Even just this far away from his collection of magical artifacts, this close to the border of his magical domain, the tips of his fingers had gone translucent. If he took only a few steps out, he might fade all the way.

Davenport pushed aside the feeling of panic that wanted to swell in him, locking it away for later. He put on his most patient, self-assured expression and stepped forward. “Barry and Lup’ll wanna know about that.”

Taako pulled his hand back in to curl it against his own heart. “I’m sure those clowns already know. Did you see all that math?  _Blech._ ” He glanced over and down at Davenport. “Don’t you have better places to be than hanging around some dank cave system? The world nearly ended. I’m sure there’s a lot of people who could use your help.”

“And I’ll give it to them,” Davenport said with a nod. “That’s basically what I do when I’m not here, help people rebuild. But Taako, there’s plenty of rebuilding to do in here too.”

Taako’s face turned to stone, but his ears drooped, too. Sad, trying not to show it. “I’m not a project, Cap’nport,” he said, turning back toward the water. “I’m not a house you can rebuild. It’s not as easy as that.”

“Building houses isn’t easy,” Daveport said. “Just because it’s hard doesn’t mean it’s not worthwhile. It doesn’t mean I can’t help you.”

“Sometimes there’s no helping. Sometimes it’s just over.”

Davenport stepped forward to stand just beside Taako, eyes on the water instead of the elf. “You’re alive, Taako,” he said, hands folded behind his back so Taako wouldn’t see how tight they were clenched. “Whatever else you went through, you survived it, you survived  _everything_ life’s thrown at you. I’m not gonna let you forget that, I’m not gonna let you shut us out and wait to fade. You sure as shit have a lot of reasons to feel scared and lost and that’s all understandable but you’re not alone and I need you to know that. I’m still your captain, Taako, I am still your family, you’re still  _my_  family, and I am not letting go.” He held his hand out sideways, still not looking. “Trust me, Taako. Even just a little bit. Tell me: What’s wrong?”

Taako’s hand slid, unsure, frightened, into Davenport’s. Otherwise, neither one moved a muscle. “I don’t know who I am without Osk,” Taako admitted, voice soft as a confession. “I wasn’t… I lost who I was when Lucretia—” He shut his eyes, head tilted down. After a deep breath, he tried again. “Without Lup, I wasn’t a  _person_ , I was just pieces of one. I hate that guy I turned into, I hate everything about him. When Osk found me, he filled in those pieces, gave me a  _purpose_ again, so who am I now that he’s gone? We’re stuck here, we can’t ever get back to homeworld, this is it forever and IPRE isn’t even a  _thing._ I’m not IPRE, I’m not a famous chef, I’m not a curator, so what  _am I?”_

“Well that’s the cool thing about not having to run anymore, bud.” Davenport turned to look up, waiting until Taako caught his eye to give him a reassuring smile. “You get to figure that out, just like every other asshole on the planet. And you don’t have to figure it out alone. We’re here with you. We’re holding your hand. Just trust us.”

Taako’s whole face crumpled, grief and fear all mixed in without any trace of hope. “I don’t know how to anymore,” he sniffled, turning to hide his face in the hand not holding Davenport’s. “Too out of practice.”

“Come on back inside,” Davenport said, giving him a small tug. “We’ll show you. After all, that’s what family’s best at.”

Nobody said anything when Davenport rejoined them in the kitchen, Taako trailing behind with their hands linked like the most comical father/son set in creation. Lup pushed out a seat for Davenport, slid some math over for Taako, and beamed at everyone gathered.

When Magnus eventually forgot himself and gave Taako a pat on the shoulder, Taako’s eye flicked sideways to meet Davenport’s, but he let it happen. Davenport grinned at him, proud of the effort, and redirected his attention to the ongoing debate.

Progress.

**Merle**

“Hey, are you, uh. You…have a meeting today, right?”

Merle looked up from the list he was writing. The Starblaster crew had all but moved into Taako’s new cave systems while the kid healed up, and his ridiculous kitchen doubled as a not-terrible office. It was also really drab, so Merle had been doing his best to spice it up with some potted plants that wouldn’t mind too much being underground. The list was for basic care while he was out. He’d worked too hard on his babies to let them suffer while he was gone. “It might be more than a day,” he chuckled. “But I’m heading out later, yes. Is there something I can getcha?”

Taako stood a few feet away, arms crossed in that persistent uncertainty he seemed to carry with him since Osk’s death. “It’s…” He rubbed one arm while his ears started a twitching dance Merle had never seen before. “It’s with Artemis Sterling, right? The Neverwinter guy?”

“Yes…?” Merle looked down at his list of plant care instructions as though maybe he’d accidentally written down a clue to whatever it was causing Taako concern. But nope, just the watering and music and gentle touching. “He’s calling in a lot of healers to get their opinions on large-scale medical solutions, and I’ve got some good advice from our travels. Plus,” he added, “their plant life isn’t bouncing back like he wants. Between the two of us,” he said, pitching his voice lower like they were sharing a secret, “I’m gonna recommend he get Hurley and Sloane in to consult. You can’t do better for plants than dryads!”

“I think—” Taako’s ear wiggles graduated to a full-body jerk.

Merle was up out of his seat and at Taako’s side in a heartbeat. He put a hand on the kid’s elbow, feeling a glowing pride when he didn’t shrink away. “You okay there, Taako?”

Taako nodded, but his ears didn’t agree. Merle waited him out. After less than a minute, Taako blurted, “Come here,” and marched away.

With a shrug, Merle followed.

Taako led him to the dragon hoard—the Taako hoard? Or, no, Taako was supposed to manage distribution, right, so the Taako…processing center…?—then pulled a large-ish salad bowl looking thing off a shelf. He turned to Merle, face set, and held the bowl out. “It’s. This is.” He huffed a frustrated breath.

“Is this for Sterling?” Merle asked, taking the bowl. It was beautiful, etched silver with paler mithral filigree. “Is it gonna make him special salads? Will the salads help heal people?” he asked with mounting enthusiasm. “Does he need this magic salad bowl to save a life?”

“It’s a mirror.” When Merle looked at Taako, the wizard seemed a million miles away, staring at the bowl without really seeing it. “I found it in a—” He shook his head. “Nah, never mind.”

“Ah, go on,” Merle encouraged him. “I bet it’s a great story!”

“Couple dudes died for it.” Taako’s expression went flat even as his ears drooped low with remorse. “Not actually a fun time in hindsight, my man.”

Merle looked down into the bowl. “…So. The bowl turns vegetables into mirrors?”

“What?” Taako’s eyebrows scrunched with confusion as he finally—finally—met Merle’s eyes. “No, why would you—”

Merle shrugged. “You said it was a mirror. It’s got a good finish, but being silver doesn’t make a thing a mirror, so I just figured—”

“You went from mirror to vegetable transmutation without even stopping to think—”

“Well, now, I don’t see how that’s the most far-fetched idea anyone ever—”

“You put water in it!” Taako made a pouring motion so sharp it set the rainbow scarf looped down around his elbows like a shawl to swinging. “Water in the bowl becomes a mirror, Lord Assface looks into the water that is a  _mirror_  in this bowl and sees stuff.”

“Sees what?” Merle squinted at his own warped reflection. “…Best place for vegetables, or…?”

“Oh my Pan!” Taako threw his hands up in the air. “If you don’t stop talking about plants, I’m going to send you to another dimension, can we  _please_ focus.”

“Speaking of,” Merle said, switching the bowl to one arm so he could snap. “I’ve drawn up a brief list of good care habits for those lovely ladies while I’m gone. We should go over it when you have a—”

Taako stabbed a finger into Merle’s shoulder. “You are a nasty dwarf and I want no part of it.”

“Aw, come on, Taako, we haven’t talked about plants in—”

“Nope! No. Absolutely not.”

Merle chuckled. “You’ll come around,” he swore. “Now, tell me about this bowl before I end up being late.”

The bowl, as it turned out, showed people things they needed to see. Past, present, future, didn’t matter. Merle wasn’t sure the Lord of Neverwinter—kind of a bigwig in this planar system—would even take it, but apparently Merle’s standing as a Great Big Savior of Everything seemed to hold enough sway. Plus he seemed curious about the bowl, immediately sending a servant to search the library for word of it while another fetched a pitcher of water.

Whatever the little lord saw in the mirror, it turned his complexion pure white. He begged their pardon and excused himself from the assembly he'd gathered. The healers, looking curious, turned toward the mirror.

Merle dumped the bowl out onto the ground. "This isn't here for y'all," he said, cheerful in the face of their confusion. "Now, who wants to talk about plants?"

Everybody did, but not as deeply as Merle. Eventually he let them change the topic to the healing arts, and they got down to planning.

A few days later, he returned to the caves. The bowl stayed with Lord Sterling, who never filled it up again but gave it a lot of thoughtful looks. “That was just the thing he needed,” Merle told Taako when he found the kid puttering around in the collection room.

Taako turned to look at him, expression calm, shoulders loose, but ears all twisted up with nerves. “Oh?” he said, tossing a polishing rag across his shoulder with calculated disinterest. “I guess that’s lucky, or whatever.”

“Not luck at all,” Merle chucked. “It was Fate!”

Lup came sidling into the room with trays of warm cookies loaded up on either hand. “Finally!” she exclaimed when she saw Merle. “Maybe he’ll stop polishing all his rods now.”

“Gross,” Taako said.

“Well, now, it’s a natural drive,” Merle said, patting Taako as high up his back as the dwarf could reach. “Nothing wrong with a little self-care!”

“Gross,” Lup said, twisting one of the trays around so she could lower it for Merle’s inspection. “Cookie?”

“Stress baking?” he asked, helping himself to a wide assortment.

“Not me, no.” She jerked her head toward Taako, who stubbornly refused to look at either of them as he tweaked the position of a goblet. “Dingus has done everything short of pacing a trench in the floor. And actual self-care,” she added with an innocent expression. “I think he’d rather wait until Kravitz—”

Taako shoved Lup, knocking her square over. His Levitation caught the trays, which he lowered to the stone table that the Grand Relics used to sit on. He looked annoyed, but his ears and throat burned red.

Lup regained her footing and immediately reached over to yank Taako’s long braid. “You used to be a lot harder to embarrass, Koko.”

“Yeah well you-- …your… _face,”_  he said, snatching a cookie up to shove it in his mouth while he jerked his head to one side to free his hair. “Is. … _Embarrassing._ ”

“It’s your face too, that’s how identical twins work.”

“Out of practice,” Merle chuckled. “These’re good,” he added around a full mouth.

“Yeah?” Taako peered at the loaded trays. “It’s been a while, I thought maybe I’d gotten rusty.”

“You stopped cooking?” Merle asked, looking to Lup with his eyebrows lifted high in surprise. She shrugged, expression pained.

“There wasn’t a lot of need to cook just for one elf,” he admitted with a casual twist of one hand through the air. “Bone dragons don’t need a lot of calories on the daily, y’get me? It would’ve just gone to waste.”

Merle ate another cookie in lieu of replying.

Taako was getting better. Figuring himself out, day by day. He continued to wear monochromatic outfits, but he always decorated with a vibrant scarf or two. He wasn’t back up to bantering with them yet, but he teased a little these days. They still stumbled upon pockets of weirdness—not cooking, his startle reflex being through the roof, occasional in-jokes he just…didn’t recognize anymore—but they were getting him back, little pieces at a time. He was getting  _himself_ back. The world was rebuilding, and so was their Transmutation wizard.

“So,” Lup said to Merle, such an obvious change of subject in her tone that Taako rolled his eyes. “How’d it go with Little Lord Fauntleroy?”

“Come on back with me to the kitchen,” he said, grabbing Taako’s elbow to pull him along, “and I’ll tell you all about it.”

“Did you make them talk to you about plants,” Taako said, letting himself be towed, “because if so I don’t wanna know how it went.”

“Maybe when you’re older,” Merle said piously, resisting a snicker when Taako huffed like a put-upon child. “You did good though, kid,” he added when they reached their destination. Lup immediately started making something fancy in a series of pots while Merle and Taako took seats at the counter, perched on tall wooden stools Magnus had “slapped together” with different-heighted people in mind. “Lord Silver scrapped his whole agenda after he pull himself back together. Only needed to look in it once.”

“Lord Sterling,” Lup said, tossing some vegetables in a bowl.

“Whatever,” Merle and Taako echoed together.

“What did he see?” Lup asked.

Merle shrugged. “He didn’t wanna talk about it when the others asked him. I figured it’s not really any of my business,” he admitted. “Whatever it was, it shook him up real good. I heard some of his staff saying they hardly recognize him.”

“For the better?” Taako asked, not looking at any of them.

“Entirely,” Merle agreed. He smiled at Taako. “You think you got the Fate aspect of this thing figured out now?”

Taako’s right ear flicked down briefly. “Sure,” he lied, propping his chin on his hand. “I mean, once the pull started, it wasn’t hard to figure it out.”

“Think you could teach me?” Lup asked, looking up from one of her sauces. “I’m an emissary of Istus, too.”

Taako opened his mouth, then shut it again, appearing to actually consider her request. His eyes went distant in that new way of his that meant he was checking on the network of spells sustaining the caves. “I don’t know,” he said, as close to a refusal as he was like to get.

“That’s okay,” Merle said, patting his shoulder. “We’ll do the legwork, you figure out the assignments.”

“Only on a temporary basis,” Lup insisted with a glare for each of them. She shook her spoon at Taako, flecking his silky black top with cream sauce. “You’re going to get back out into the world without going see-through if I have to pick you up and toss you myself.”

“You couldn’t lift me,” Taako said, chin still in his hand, eyes half-lidded, the corner of his mouth curved in a mocking smirk.

Lup threw down her spoon and started stalking around the counter. Taako squawked and tried to squirm off his stool without much luck. He looked ready to Blink to safety right ahead of Lup laying hands on him right when a rift opened in the middle of the kitchen.

Barry stepped out, followed by Kravitz.

“Babe!” Lup said, immediately changing course to wrap Barry up in a hug and smack a kiss on his temple. “Help me out here, Taako says I can’t lift him up. You gotta hold him still so I can get a good grip.”

Kravitz blinked.

Taako finally untangled himself enough to fall directly off the stool.

“Is this a bad time?” Kravitz asked, reaching down to help Taako back onto his feet.

“This is the perfect time,” Taako said with a wide smile, shifting to keep the Grim Reaper between himself and his sister.

“This is, uh.” Barry grinned helplessly. “This is kind of an average time, if I’m reading the room right. Your sauce is burning,” he added to Lup. She let out a string of curses and raced back over to the stove. Taako joined her, summoned by the siren call of rescuing a potentially doomed meal. The twins almost immediately started to bicker.

Kravitz looked a little concerned.

"It's good to have everybody back together," Merle said, pleased by the scene. He nudged Barry when the human clambered up onto Taako's evacuated seat. "So where were you boys?" He wiggled his eyebrows. "Bonding over similar experiences?"

"Sort of," Kravitz said even as Barry groaned, "Gross, please don't." Kravitz looked confused until the twins turned identical lewd grins on him. Then he wrinkled his nose. "Not what I meant," he said firmly.

Merle made a  _go on_ motion.

Kravitz cleared his throat, nervous enough that Taako's ears swiveled up and in his direction. He turned curiously to watch his...whatever Kravitz was to him. "As an emissary of the Raven Queen," he began.

"Oh no," Lup said, still focused on her stirring. "Is this work related?"

"Is it the beginning of a speech?" Taako wondered. "You don't gotta give speeches here, hot stuff. Just spit it out."

"That  _not_ what he said," Merle announced proudly.

Taako threw a dish towel at him. 

Kravitz's expression filled with a mixture of disgust and deep regret.

"I'm gonna be a reaper," Barry said to save him. "We just got back from meeting the Raven Queen, she says if I'm a reaper then being a lich isn't as big a deal."

"Aw." Lup pouted at him, ears drooping. "That sounds  _kickass,_  I wanna be a reaper."

"Technically," Kravitz said, "you can only be in service to one god or goddess at a time. But," he continued, raising his hand when she started to protest, "the Raven Queen is willing to discuss using you as an intermediary between the courts. Your circumstances are somewhat unique, since you've already pledged to Istus but you're also a lich."

"Will Istus go for that?" Taako wondered.

Kravit shrugged. "Only way to know is to ask, but I think it's likely. The Raven Queen and Istus are, uh... Fond. Of each other. As you'll come to find out."

Merle opened his mouth. Taako slapped him upside the back of the head with a Mage Hand. "How's that food coming along?" he asked instead of his original joke.

"Just waiting on the noodles," Lup said.

"Are you staying for a plate?" Taako asked Kravitz with practiced nonchalance, refusing to look at him.

Kravitz immediately took a seat at the counter. "I didn't know you cooked."

Taako looked down into the pot of sauce he'd wrestled away from his sister. "Yeah, well," he said, and didn't add anything else.

"How'd that object go over?" Barry asked Merle.

"Object?" Kravitz added.

"Y'know how Taako's all tied into the fate of the collection in the other room," Merle said. "Well, he finally got a tingle about it, and sent me to Lord Silver--"

"Lord Sterling," all three IPRE members said together.

"--sure, him, he sent me over there with a big bowl that becomes a mirror when you pour water it in. Changed that kid's whole outlook! For the better," he clarified, in case they weren't sure.

"That went well," Barry said with a pleased smile. 

"It'll go even better once Koko starts picking up the slack and delivers them himself," Lup said. She began pulling plates out of the cabinets. 

"Give him time," Merle said, taking a dish when Taako handed it to him.

Kravitz gave Taako a weird look. "You have the Mirror of Finwë in your collection?"

"Not at the moment," Taako said, giving Kraitz his plate with a megawatt smile turned awkward by the way his ears sunk down. 

"...What, uh. What else do you have?"

Lup dropped Barry's dish on the countertop with a heavy clang. "No work talk at dinner," she said. The smile she directed at Kravitz was all tooth.

He immediately dug into his pasta. "This is amazing," he said with surprise, mouth full.

Taako laughed. "Well, sure." He nudged Lup with his elbow. "Kinda our thing."

Lup brought the last two plates over, putting one in front of Taako and keeping the other for herself. "What's your new gig all about, babe?" she asked Barry.

"Bringing necromancers to justice, I think." Barry turned to Taako. "I'd like to hear more about what you felt with the artifact, actually. Maybe we can use that to help get you back into the world."

Taako's mouth thinned. "I thought we weren't talking work."

"You're not work," Barry said, "you're family. You've gotta be missing the great outdoors by now, right? You haven't been shopping or to a show or anything in weeks. Aren't you going stir-crazy?"

"Yeah," Kravitz added around another mouthful just when Taako was starting to look uncomfortable, "I mean, think of all the art you haven't stolen. The parties you haven't crashed." He swallowed with a grin. "The roofs you haven't fallen through."

"That was  _one time,"_ Taako huffed, stabbing his fork into the pasta. "And anyway, it's not like I got hurt."

"Really?" Kravitz twirled his pasta with an innocent expression. "I wonder how  _that_ happened."

"Yeah me too," Lup said, leaning forward eagerly. "Spill!"

"I may," Taako said with great dignity, "or  _may not._ Have elected to route an escape over a roof that, through no fault of my own, ended up being a  _touch_ structurally untrustworthy."

"What?" Barry said, eyes wide.

Kravitz made a diving motion with one hand. "Straight through the roof tiles down into the abandoned church below."

"How did you not break all your bones?" Lup asked. She punched Taako's shoulder. "Why didn't you catch yourself! You've got  _magic,_ dingus."

Taako rubbed his shoulder with a pout. "I didn't get hurt," he muttered.

"Because I was there," Kravitz said, "and I caught him."

"Even if you weren't, I've had worse!"

Barry squinted at Kravitz. "...Why were you on Taako's heist?"

Kravitz flushed. "Uh."

"Have you been stalking him since the Miller Lab?" Merle asked with a chortle. 

"What do you mean by  _worse?"_ Lup demanded of her brother.

"Oh, look at the time." Taako pushed away from the counter. "Gotta go!"

Lup spread her arms out incredulously. "Go where! You can't leave this cave!"

Taako was already gone. Kravitz, who had finished his own meal, grabbed Taako's basically uneaten dish and followed him, already snacking on Taako's share. "You can't just leave this, it's delicious," he mumbled to the elf, cheeks full of pasta.

"This has been a good day," Merle said once they were gone.

Lup stared at him.

"It's been a  _day,"_ Barry allowed.

"Come on, now, you gotta think positive." He started counting points out on his fingers. "Barry's got his new job, you're gonna be a reaper of Istus, Taako used his Fate power for the first time and nobody died. Lord Silverware turned over a new leaf thanks to him, and Neverwinter's on target to get some of their prototype hospitals up within the month because of how wide open Spoons threw his coffers."

"The man's name is  _Sterling."_  

"Taako helped cook a little, and he told a bit about one of his capers." Merle grinned, wide and joyous. "And now we know he wasn't all alone the whole time. At least for the last part of it, he had Kravitz. I don't know about you, but that lifts my spirits plenty."

"Yeah okay," Lup signed. "I  _guess_  we can look at it that way."

"Plus," Merle added, trying not to let his wicked glee show on his face, "I got to meet the juiciest succulents you ever did--"

"Augh!" Lup cried, shoving away from the counter, followed by a deeply traumatized Barry. "No! Gross,  _ugh!_ Now I have to burn this body and start over with a fresh brain!"

When they were gone, Merle pulled their plates over to eat the leftovers.

A great day.

**Magnus**

It wasn't that the others were more worried about Taako than Magnus was. Magnus was plenty worried about Taako. It was just...a different kind of worry. Worry about a different thing. Taako was an elf tied into a magical cave system. Maybe he didn't go out and romp across the countryside, or show any interest in broadening his horizon, so to speak, but he also wasn't still out there, like, stealing stuff and falling through roofs or whatever.

Magnus was worried. But Taako had time. Not one of them had come out the other side of their long war with the Hunger unscathed. If Taako's trauma processing sometimes looked like agoraphobia, at least he was alive to work through it. 

Mostly, as they all got busier with rebuilding, as less of their hours were spent in the cave with him, as Taako started to send them off on delivery missions but refused to step outside, Magnus worried that he'd get lonely. The last thing Taako needed was to be isolated again, just him and his thoughts. It was true that the world needed them, needed the Birds, maybe more than they needed each other. 

But that was a fantasy bus Taako'd already been thrown under before. Magnus wouldn't let it happen again. Which just left the question of  _how._

Then one day, the solution basically fell into Magnus's lap in a one-two punch. "Aw, yes," he said, looking Taako's new best friend straight in the eye. "This is gonna be awesome."

Magnus presented his solution to Taako in the form of a hat. He found the elf standing at the cave mouth, looking out into the waterfall. "Hey, buddy!" he called, holding the hat in the crook of one arm so he could wave vigorously with the other.

Taako turned to him, gold eyes distant in the way that usually meant he was lost somewhere inside himself again.

"I got you this," Magnus continued without pause, holding the hat out by its brim, point turned toward the floor.

It was a wizard's hat. Maybe not as big as Taako's had been on the Starblaster (maybe even nowhere  _near_ that big), but any hat would be a step toward reclaiming the whimsy Taako seemed to have lost along the way.

Taako didn't take the hat. He just kind of stared at it. "What is that," he said.

Magnus looked at it. It was a dark red to match his IPRE robe, velvet for the panache, with silver stars and black feathers used as liberal decorations. The hat was  _busy._  But for Taako, it was also pretty tame. He'd had brims nearly twice as wide, with so many baubles and bells that the whole thing drooped. Magnus had gotten what amounted to a Taako starter hat. 

Taako looked horrified.

Magnus  _needed_ him to take the hat. He wiggled it at Taako. "You always said a wizard isn't really a wizard without the hat, he's just a stooge with spells."

Instead of taking the hat, Taako tucked his hands under his arms.

Magnus's whole body deflated. "You don't want it?"

"It's not about not wanting it," he said, staring at the hat so he wouldn't have to look at Magnus. "It's--" His mouth pressed into a thin line.

"You can tell me," Magnus urged him. "It's just us, I won't make it weird.  It's...?"

 "...I don't trust it," he admitted.

Magnus blinked. "Don't trust the hat?"

Taako's shoulders went tight. "I can't explain it, I just--"

"It's a hat," Magnus said. "I didn't do anything to it. It's not spelled or anything." He wiggled it again. "Just a hat."

"Nothing's just anything anymore," Taako said with a sigh, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "What does the hat mean, Magnus? You want me to put it on like before? Go back to the Starblaster Taako? That guy's dead, dude. A hat isn't going to bring him back."

"Yeah, duh," Magnus said. "Taako, not  _one_ of us is the same person we were when we got here. Maybe we didn't all get, like, whatever, the way you did. But we all changed. This hat isn't going to make you a past Taako any more than a black eye makes me a past Magnus. That doesn't mean I'm not going to get a black eye. " He shrugged. "It'll just be a new black eye, on a new Magnus, for a new reason. Because I'm the kinda guy who gets black eyes."

Taako squinted at him. "Did somebody hit you?"

Magnus rolled his eyes. "Wear the hat or don't," he said. "But it's a gift either way, and you have to take it."

"Fine," Taako relented, holding his hands out. "Give me the stupid-- Fucking  _Pan,_ why is this so heavy? Did you fill it with rocks!"

Since Magnus knew what  _was_ in the hat (not rocks), he'd been careful not to just drop it in Taako's hands. He let the elf feel the weight, but kept a firm grasp on it. That freed Taako up to look inside.

Where a Saluki puppy looked back.

"Holy shit," he breathed. 

Magnus beamed.

Taako scooped the puppy out to stare at her. She was dark all over with a tan underbelly and face. Her fur was short, but her ears and tail were already starting to show signs of the feathering that would give her the breed's signature look later in life.

"There's a lot of critters out there who need help right now," Magnus said, putting the hat on Taako's head while he continued to stare at the puppy.  "Just because you can't leave yet, doesn't mean you can't lend a hand."

"You can't just give someone an entire dog, Magnus!" Taako shouted, cradling the puppy close against his chest.

"Yes I can, I just did."

"Well maybe I don't want her." But he was letting the puppy lick his jaw, tilting his head into the affection. He let the hat stay on his head. His eyes came back from that distant place.

"I can't figure out a way to be here more and help all the people who need me," Magnus admitted, reaching out to scratch the puppy's ears. "I know things'll calm down eventually, and I'd be the world's biggest asshole if I could help and didn't. But I'd also be the world's biggest asshole if my friend needed me and I didn't do everything I could. So I got you this puppy, to be with you when I can't."

Taako's gaze dropped even as he snuggled the puppy closer. "I'm not a charity case. I don't need your pity puppy."

"She's not a pity puppy," Magnus grumbled. "She's an orphan, and she needs help. She's too little to be on her own, and I don't have any time for her."

"Coincidentally," Taako said dryly, "I have a lot of time."

"Think of it as adding her to your collection," Magnus suggested. "Another trinket for the cave."

"Hmm. And the hat?"

"All the rage in Goldcliff. Plus it's so you. It's familiar, y'know?"

"But not too familiar," Taako said, looking reluctantly charmed as he lifted his hand to touch the brim. "I don't think I ever had a velvet one."

"But you had one with stars, so it's not too  _not_ familiar. You look great. It's a new craze!"

Taako snuggled his face into the puppy's fine, soft fir with a sigh, and Magnus knew he'd won.

Over the next few days, the puppy wrapped Taako firmly around her little paw. He named her Trinket and began to almost immediately spoil her rotten. She got gourmet meals made of the finest ingredients, had little dog beds spread throughout the cave, and followed Taako around like he was her entire world. Taako didn't get better overnight; that's not what Trinket was there for.

She gave him something to focus on that wasn't the spiraling thoughts in his head that took him so far away. She made him look forward instead of back.

And she asked him to go outside.

Taako seemed constantly torn between wanting to let her roam free and being worried about leaving her so unsupervised that she'd get eaten by, like, a bear. Magnus didn't think there were any major predators within miles of  _any_ dragon cave, much less a dracolich, but Taako was paranoid. Which meant Magnus got to watch Taako standing at the edge of the cave, parting the waterfall with his magic so he could keep an eye on Trinket as she splashed in the river and chased butterflies in the field. Magnus didn't know if Taako realized he was slowly inching further out after his puppy as the days slipped by but he wasn’t going to draw attention to it. He also didn’t draw attention to the velvet hat sitting atop Taako’s head.

Eventually, Magnus came back from a long day of rebuilding to find Taako standing full on the far side of the waterfall, head tipped back so he could soak up the late afternoon sun. Trinket was stubbornly dragging an enormous tree branch toward him, one inch at a time. Pride swelled in Magnus’s chest for both of them.

He punched Taako square in the shoulder. “Look at you!”

Taako flailed, scrambling to catch his hat before it fell off entirely. “Fucking shit! Make  _noise!”_

“I can’t,” Magnus said. “Carey trained it out of me. How’d you do it without going poof?”

“Rude,” Taako said. He bent down to pick up Trinket’s branch, Transmuting it into a small flock of wooden birds that chased her around the field. “I guess I’m pretty tied into the spell matrix of the cave now.”

“Uh. Yes? Duh. You go see-through when you leave it.”

Taako held up his hands to demonstrate how solid they were. “Turns out I can bring the matrix with me. Like. Like a cloak, I guess? Or a second skin? Like I’m an extension of it.” He shrugged, letting his hands drop. “Something like that.”

Magnus made a thoughtful sound. “What’s your range?”

“I don’t know,” Taako admitted.

“…Barry’s gonna love this.”

“Barry nothing, Lup’s gonna lose her  _shit._ Fuckin’ nerds.”

“We could run away,” Magnus suggested as Trinket finally got the courage to turn on the pursuing flock to try and catch one. “I could hide you until it blows over.”

Taako heaved a sigh. “They’d find me, and then it’d be even worse.”

“Truth.”

They watched Trinket leap up to sink her sharp puppy teeth into one of the birds.

“…Doesn’t mean I have to make it easy on them,” Taako said.

Magnus laughed.

**Lup**

One night at dinner, Taako told Lup and Barry that he'd been outside. That he hadn't vanished. He tied it all up in a hypothesis regarding his connection with the cave’s matrix, which he either didn't know a lot about yet or was keeping deliberately vague.

Lup immediately threw her hands in the air, turning to Barry. “Research project!” she cheered.

He gave her a double high five. “Hell yeah!”

“Nerds,” Davenport said.

Probably due to the fact that Lup wanted to turn him into a series of experiments, Taako used his newfound freedom to spend the next three days hiding from her. She tracked him to Raven's Roost with Magnus, then to Neverwinter with Merle, and lost track of him for a bit by the sea where he'd apparently gone with Davenport. He even spent some time on the moon base, even though Lup knew he was still uncomfortable with Lucretia. Trinket went with him everywhere, leaving a string of utterly charmed persons in her wake. Kravitz scooped Taako out of a close call once, but eventually Lup caught him.

Lup was Taako’s twin. Nobody anywhere knew him better. Honestly, he was lucky she gave him those three days.

“Ready for some experiments?” she asked, walking up to the little Goldcliff bistro where Taako and Angus were having brunch. Trinket was curled up in Taako’s lap, sound asleep.

Taako rolled his eyes. “Is that what this was about? Should’ve asked, sis, I woulda helped you with the math.”

She rubbed her hands together gleefully. “Let’s get started.”

“I'm sure you'll learn a lot, sir," Angus said to Taako.

"Merle's coming for you in like ten minutes," Taako said. "Don't wander off or no more puppy time."

Angus drooped. "I wasn't gonna wander off, sir."

Taako squinted at him. "Angles. I know all about the string of robberies that've been happening here lately. You don't fool me from a second." He rolled his eyes. " _They have the best muffins_ my ass."

"They do have good muffins," Angus said, sinking down low in his seat.

"Mine are better," Taako huffed, tossing his hair over one shoulder.

Lup rolled her eyes and leaned over to grab one of the remaining blueberry scones. "Can we go now?" she asked Taako. "I have a  _lot_ of experiments."

"My experiments haven't been enough?" he shot back, tipping his chair up on two legs. "We've got a pretty good idea on my range now, right?"

"In that you don't have one," Lup huffed, kneeing the back of his chair to drop him back on all four legs. "I want to know more about how the matrix works, Koko. Up, c'mon, march!"

"Lead the way, Lulu."

Lup hustled Taako away quickly so he wouldn't see the tears that sprang to her eyes at his first use of that nickname since they found each other again. Barry was waiting for them at the edge of town, eager to use his new reaper scythe to cut rifts for them back to the caves. Trinket didn't seem to like their method of travel, which she expressed by vomiting all over Barry's shoes once they got back. He excused himself for a wardrobe change, and Lup got down to business.

The matrix was  _fascinating._  Taako was able to let her see it with a combination of assorted vision spells layered over meditation. He could only do this trick in the artifacts room. Anywhere else, his concentration wasn't good enough, or he was too distant from the network, or something. 

Lup used his tricks to rig up glasses that let her see the network without Taako’s help, then had him walk around and took notes.

She’d never seen anything like it. The matrix ebbed and flowed like a river, full and bright with power around the objects but running down to thinner streams in the deepest outshoots of the cave. The matrix whirled in and around Taako, who was not a source so much as…maybe a conduit. When he walked into the weak, dark corners of the cave, he brought the shining strength of the matrix with him, filling the trickling streams like a flash flood. When she looked down at her own hands, her body, as it moved through the network, she saw the way the matrix clung to her slightly, meeting her magic, recognizing it, and moving on. She tried to grab it, take it with her, the way Taako did. It ran through her hold like water.

Was it Fate magic, somehow? It could tell she was an emissary of Istus, but it wasn’t tied to her, not sunk into her bones the way it was with Taako, so she couldn’t manipulate it? Had that vial of Istus’s raw power that she fed Taako transmuted Osk’s death magic to just straight-up strands of Fate? Would the eddies move around Lucretia or Davenport the way it did Lup? What about Merle or Magnus?

Too many questions.

Barry eventually rejoined them with Trinket barking joyfully at his heels, so Lup switched to a series of experiments vis-à-vis how connected Taako was to the collection as individual objects. She had him turn away while she or Barry or, on one occasion, Trinket, picked an item at random to mess with it. Taako could tell what it was, knew where they put it if one of them hid it, and grew steadily more distressed the further the object got from the room.

Lup made a note to figure out better names for things. “Treasure room” was out, but  _the room_ wouldn’t fly forever.

Anyway, so Taako could tell, and it made him uneasy when his stuff went on a walkabout. Not all his stuff, she could steal his clothes and jewelry and everything without him noticing, but move a hairpin in the collection so much as an inch and he’d be twitching like there were spiders running down his spine.

“Didn’t you  _give_ one of these to Lord Spoons?” Lup asked, watching Taako fastidiously rearrange each item at the end of her experimentation.

“It’s on loan,” Taako snapped, one ear swiveling to track Barry where he was peering at a collection of small daggers. “When it’s done with him, or if he treats it like trash, I’ve still got a spot saved.” He flapped one hand up and over toward the aforementioned spot. 

“Doesn’t this set come with a sword too?" Barry asked. "Although I read it went missing a long time ago, so maybe not anymore.”

Taako whipped around to glare at him, picked up Trinket, and stalked from the room.

“What’d I say?” Barry asked.

Lup shrugged. She pushed one of the candlesticks over in retribution for Taako’s weirdness, then headed back out toward her room in the caves.

(If she snuck back in a minute later to set the candlestick back up just in its spot, not wanting Taako to feel spiders down his back on top of whatever drove him away, well. No one else was around, and Barry would never tell.)

That night, Lup woke up to Taako leaning over her, noses nearly touching, eyes locked as soon as hers were open. She didn’t shriek or push him away. She got up as quietly as she could, letting him set Trinket in the warm spot she left behind, and followed him out. They bundled up in matching black cloaks from Taako’s closet, slipping out of the cave without a word between them. Lup followed Taako on foot for a long time, then hopped up behind him on Garyl so they could ride. For hours.

It was the gray of early morning before they finally reached wherever this was. To Lup, it just looked like a field, maybe slightly marshy. She watched Taako search around through the tangled grassed before he finally knelt to dig something up. He brought it back to show her.

A sword. Beautiful if dirty, with dead plant matter wedged in its crevices and dull brown dirt or rust or something smeared along the sheath.

Taako held the sword out to make sure she could see it. “When Osk gave me the phylactery,” he said, eyes on the sword, “I was dying. I went to get this, and the temple collapsed around me. Osk pulled me from the rubble, and I was sure if I lost the sword he’d just drop me. He didn’t have the, uh. The personality for failure.”

Lup waited for him to take a few deep breaths before continuing.

“I did drop it, though. Finally passed out and lost my grip.”

Oh. Not rust after all, then.

“He brought me back to the cave, said binding to the phylactery was the only way I’d survive, said he treasured me even when he didn’t show it.”

“Osk was an abusive piece of shit,” Lup said, unable to stay quiet again.

Taako swallowed hard. “For a long time,” he said, finally letting the sword lower, “Osk was my everything. Or, well, it  _wasn’t_ a long time, not in the scheme of things, but— When my memories of you were taken, all the good stuff from the shitty way we grew up got cut out too, and the shit was what I had left. Even when I had my show and Sazed, I managed to fuck that up, and he tried to sell me. Osk saved me from that. Saved me from a slaver. Gave me back my magic, and a purpose, and. It wasn’t a  _home,_ but it was something, y’know?”

Lup struggled for a minute before blurting, “Osk  _was_ the slaver, Koko. He made a simulacrum to do the purchase so you could see his dragon form save you and feel indebted.”

After a moment of stunned silence, Taako burst out laughing. “That figures!” he cackled, hand still wrapped firm around the sword. “That just fucking figures, doesn’t it?  _Gods above,_ I’m like ten flavors of stupid all wrapped up in an idiot wizard package.”

“Don’t say that,” Lup snapped. “Osk was thousands of years old, and you were…you were just pieces of yourself left all alone. It wasn’t stupid to go with him! Being betrayed isn’t  _stupid!”_

“He said he’d let me go back to my show,” Taako said, laughter edging toward hysteria. “He said if I didn’t want to stay, I could—! But if he bought me, if I belonged to him he’d  _never let me go—_ ”

Lup yanked him in tight for a bone-crushing hug with the sword wedged between them. “He didn’t have to let you go,” she murmured into his hair. “We found you, didn’t we? Osk took you from us the way he took those artifacts from the world. But they’re circulating again now, and you’re the one who’s gonna do it. We’re gonna be okay, Taako. All of us together.”

Taako shook and shook in her arms, holding her like he’d never let go. Lup held him right back, fierce, an anchor in his storm.

All around them, a new day dawned.

**Angus**

After solving the Goldcliff case, Angus returned to Taako's cave system. He found the elf sitting on a pile of pillows in the collection room, meticulously cleaning what looked like a really old sword. Trinket was absent, which was...unusual. After a moment of hesitation--he didn't want to break Taako's concentration if what he was doing was important--Angus decided it would probably be better to just come back later.

"What am I, chopped unicorn dick?" Taako asked, not lifting his eyes from his work. "You break up one little crime ring and suddenly you’re too cool to say hi? Rude."

Angus flushed and edged into the room. "Of course not, sir! You just…you looked busy...? And Trinket's not here, so I thought maybe you wanted to be alone."

_“Rude,”_ he said again, lifting the sword to tilt it in the light for an inspection. “Taako can multitask, Agnes. Trinket's with Maggie, he's doing a puppy preschool thing, learning her some new tricks.”

“It’s, uh. It’s Angus, sir.”

Taako leveled an unimpressed look on him. “That’s what I said.” He flipped the sword around with a practiced twist of his wrist to get a grip on the hilt and pull it smoothly from the scabbard. The blade was dark with age. Taako peered at it with a careful eye, nodded, and leaned over to a large basket of supplies to grab a cloth and glass pot of something. “Well?” he demanded, jerking his head in a clear  _come here_ motion. “Are you gonna help me or what?”

Angus, who hadn’t planned on it, scrambled over. He vibrated at the edge of the pillows, seized with indecision, before Taako rolled his eyes, grabbed Angus’s wrist, and yanked him down into the pile. It took a moment to get seated properly, then he folded his hands carefully to wait for further instructions. When it didn’t seem like Taako, who had dabbed a cloth into the stuff in the pot to buff it into the naked blade, was going to offer any, Angus said, “I could…help you sharpen it…?”

“Not likely,” Taako dismissed with a sniff. He stabbed the sword into a pillow so he could show Angus one full side. “It’s been out of use for, like, three thousand years,” he said, turning the sword at an angle so he could drop his cloth—thin as a handkerchief—and let it flutter along the edge. It cut cleanly in two. Taako nodded with a distantly pleased look. He picked up the two halves of the cloth, then tapped one finger on the flat of the blade. “It’s—”

“Vorpal,” Angus breathed, eyes enormous behind his glasses.

Taako nodded again, resuming his careful, casual buff of a legendary item. “Thirsty, too, so don’t go giving it any vital fluids.”

Angus tried not to gape but knew he was failing. “I thought they were all destroyed! Sir, there aren’t any vorpal swords left!”

“Uh, wrong.” He brandished the sword again before drawing his cloth down it in a smooth, firm motion. “The vorpal swords were lost  _to time_ , not in general.” He squinted at Angus. “Have you not looked at this collection at  _all?_ I thought you were supposed to be some kind of detective.”

The shelves that circled the walls floor to ceiling were packed with items. Angus had looked at them when he had the time, but he was afraid to touch, and there were just  _so_ many. His eyes darted around now, seeking out any swords. There were dozens, was it possible--?

“Osk started collecting a long time ago,” Taako said. He rested the sword carefully against his shoulder to free up his hands so he could retrieve the scabbard and pass it on to Angus along with a different pot of…something and a tiny brush. “Make sure to get in all the nooks and crannies or I’ll have to do it again later and that’s not why I hired an assistant.”

“But I’m not a—”

“Anyway so Osk’s collection is older than the stories of what happened to the vorpal swords,” Taako continued over Angus’s protests.

“Are they all here?” Angus asked, nearly breathless with excitement.

Taako nudged him. “Get to scrubbing, shortstack.”

Angus dipped his little brush into the goop obediently, working it into the grass and muck wedged tenaciously in a million intricate details. “Are they all here?” he asked again, refusing to be distracted.

“Not all,” Taako admitted. “A fair few, though.”

“Do you know what all the artifacts in the hoard are?” Angus wondered.

“I had a lot of free time,” Taako said in the tone Angus was beginning to recognize as lies varnished over a bitter truth. He side-eyed Angus. “Want a story? You’ll have to trade for it.”

“Trade what?” Angus asked instead of just blurting  _yes_ like he wanted to.

“Stories, duh. You’re a professional snoop, right?”

“I’m actually a private detective—”

“So I’ll tell you about a thing in this room, you tell me about a time you snooped something real good.”

Angus opened his mouth to protest that he was a  _detective,_ but saw the wicked gleam in Taako’s eyes and gave up with a sigh. “Okay, sir,” he said. “That sounds fair.” He lifted the scabbard slightly. “Can we start with this one? Oh, wait, it’s new though. Maybe you haven’t learned about it yet?”

“Ye of little faith,” he snorted. “Do you go on capers without researching them? No,” he said over Angus’s attempts to correct him again, “you don’t. Okay, settle in, Angles. This is a good one.”

Taako wove a tale of murder and betrayal, a sword forged in blood, enchanted to thirst and drink deep of those it wounded. Cursed and blessed to be eternally sharp, so indiscriminate in its hunger that it had consumed the blood, the power, of every fool to ever claim it. Thousands of years ago, a holy warrior had used the sword to overthrow a tyrant. Then, instead of claiming the throne she’d liberated, she’d retreated to the wilds, where she’d given her life to hide the sword from future generations. Others of her order made a temple of her tomb, and her secret had remained safe until Osk—alive when the warrior lived, alive after she was dead, alive to watch the construction—dispatched Taako to fetch it.

“That’s amazing,” Angus breathed. “Where will you put it?” he asked, looking around the room, all its shelves packed full with items.

“You owe me a story,” Taako threatened.

“I know, sir,” Angus agreed quickly. “I’m not trying to get out of it, honest! I was just wondering.”

“Hm. Suspicious," he noted, checking the blade over for any spots he may have missed, "but I'll allow it. Just don't forget that you owe me."

"I won't," Angus said.

"Osk could change the lair," Taako said. He set the blade aside to free up his hands so he could make grabby motions at the scabbard.

"I'm not done," Angus said, clutching it closer.

"You are now, gimmie." Once he had it back, Taako took a moment to inspect Angus's work. He didn't say anything bad, which was probably as close to praise as Angus was gonna get. "The system was tied into his magic," the elf continued, using Angus's pick to get a few last spots before switching to the polish. “He used that connection to, like, move things around or expand or whatever when he needed to. That’s how I got the kitchen,” he said, tilting his head in that general direction. “Every time I got back with a new item, guy had another spot open for it. Now that he’s gone, I guess I’m gonna have to figure out a stacking system.” He held the scabbard at a distance to squint at it. “Maybe I’ll hang shit from the ceiling.”

“Have you tried?” Angus blurted before he could think better of it.

Taako blinked at him. “Have I tried what, homeslice?”

“Changing the lair.” He flapped his hands around to try and encompass the whole cave system. “I mean. You said he could change it because he was tied into the magic, right, sir? And now that magic is some kind of fate matrix, and you’re tied into that, so. Wouldn’t it stand to reason that you could change it too?”

“…Huh.” Taako sheathed the vorpal blade, resting it across his lap. He shut his eyes, spine straight, looking like he was settling in for meditation.

At first, nothing happened. Then the room seemed to…kind of ripple, unfolding a new space in the spiraling shelves just large enough for the sword. A set of flat stone hooks slid out from the wall, the perfect shape and size to hold the newest item.

“It’s perfect, sir!” Angus exclaimed, scrambling to his feet to go investigate. “Look, it’s—“ When he turned back, Taako was unmoved. A crease began forming on the elf's forehead. “Sir?” he asked, seized with a sudden fear that Taako would be sucked into the matrix somehow and be lost to them and it’d be all Angus’s fault for suggesting he try without anyone else really magical around to help him and—

The ceiling shuddered.

Angus whipped his head up to stare at it, fear swooping into panic. Was the cave collapsing? Had Taako accidentally destabilized the matrix? This was all Angus’s fault! Chunks of rock started to tumble down from above them. Or—

Wait.

They weren’t tumbling, they were  _rolling,_ folding back from the topmost point of the arched ceiling. Like peeling the skin from a banana, they curled back and away to reveal a dome of multi-hued crystals. They were jagged and spiked like the heart of a geode and reached all the way up to the surface. Light spilled through in rainbow fractals, scattering color across the once-dim space.

Angus’s heart raced at the unexpected beauty. Something like awe tingled up his spine.

He knew— _everyone_  knew, thanks to the Story and Song—that the Birds were powerful. Every time he saw one of them really let loose, though, it felt like—like something out of a storybook. Unbelievable. And, for once,  _true._

Taako blinked his eyes open. He looked up at the crystals, then over at the new display for the vorpal sword. He smirked.

Then he tipped sideways and started to fall.

Agnus dove forward with a yelp to catch him. Taako was in a nest of pillows, so probably he’d be fine, but—

Just in case.

He held Taako steady, one hand on his shoulder, the other supporting his neck, like he’d been trained in any number of fantasy first aid classes he’d taken throughout the years.

Taako listed for another minute, then seemed to come back to himself. He took more of his own weight, leaning forward to prop his elbows on his knees. “That was pretty uncool,” he said.

“That was actually  _very_ cool,” Angus insisted. “You changed the whole ceiling into a crystal skylight!”

“Mostly,” Taako mumbled into his hands, “it was just, uh. Transmutation. Ugh, my head.” He flopped back onto his pillow pile. “Coulda maybe stood to start a little smaller.”

Angus picked up the vorpal sword and took it over to hang it in its new spot. It only took a little careful climbing to get high enough. “I think you did a great job, sir,” Agnus said, trotting over to rejoin Taako on the pillows. “Does it feel like magical exhaustion?”

Taako shook his head, eyes closed, arms and legs akimbo. “More like backlash, a little? The cave didn’t wanna move, but it was no match for old Taako.  …Mostly.”

“Can I get you anything?”

“Nah, munchkin, I just need, like. Fifteen minutes.” He voice started to peter out drowsily. “I’m just gonna…take a little…” Then he was gone, not quite snoring but breathing fairly loudly.

Angus fidgeted at his side, not sure what he should do. Get a blanket, or…?

“Overworked himself, did he?”

Angus looked up, startled, to find the reaper Kravitz, Taako’s…boyfriend? Leaning over them with a fond smile. “He redid the roof,” Angus said, pointing up. “I think to prove he could? It’s kind of my fault, sir, I suggested that if Osk could change the caves then probably he could too, I didn’t mean for him to do anything big, he just needed somewhere to put the vorpal sword and I thought—“

Kravitz blinked, bemused, then shook his head. “That’s too many questions at the moment,” he said, squatting so he could worm his arms under Taako’s knees and shoulders. “I don’t doubt it’s Taako’s own fault though. You can’t make him do  _anything_ he doesn’t want to. Trust me,” he insisted when Angus wanted to protest. “I’m an expert at wanting Taako to do things he won’t.” He stood fluidly, cradling Taako against his chest. The elf didn’t so much as mumble. “C’mon, let’s put this idiot to bed and get some lunch, yeah?”

So they did.

When Taako woke up an hour or so later, Kravitz teased him mercilessly then fed him an enormous sandwich. Taako took the teasing with characteristic bad humor, made less effective by the rumpled nature of his hair and the way his ears lifted in contentment as he ate.

Kravitz entertained Angus with a parade of stories about times Taako got himself into trouble by pushing himself too hard being stubborn, including once when Taako had hung from the lip of a well for twenty minutes while Kravitz sat by his hands, cutting up an apple and feeding him slices, because Taako refused to admit he needed a hand up. 

Toward the end of that story, Taako, who had been sulking through a plate of cookies Lup made him, sat up sharply, ears pricked high and swiveling like he was trying to catch the sound of something. "Hey so never let it be said Taako doesn't learn from his mistakes," he said. His ears lowered and he gave them a smile warm enough to be thoroughly suspicious. "You boys up for a scavenger hunt?"

"Well I'm absolutely terrified by that non sequitur," Kravitz said.

"It's totally sequitur," Taako grumbled. He got up to start a series of what looked like warm up stretches. "You in?"

Angus stood to try and copy the stretches. "Where are we going, sir?"

Taako pointed at him. "That's an excellent question. It's like you're a detective."

"Are you being summoned?" Kravitz wondered, munching on a cookie while he watched them stretch. Well, actually, what he was doing was watching  _Taako_  stretch. Not enough so that it was uncomfortable, but...

Yeah, probably Taako's boyfriend.

"Is it an artifact?" Angus asked eagerly.

Kravitz brandished his scythe. "Can I interest anyone in the direct route?"

"It  _is_  an artifact," Taako said. "I don't...exactly know where? So that's a nope on the Travel By Death. We'll have to take Garyl, feel it out as we get closer."

"Aw." The scythe vanish in a swirl of smoke. "But Garyl can only carry two at most." Kravitz pouted so aggressively that Taako rolled his eyes, circling the counter to catch his jaw in one hand and give him a kiss. Angus glanced away when Kravitz reeled Taako in closer over Taako's muffled laughter.

"Watch it, thug, there's a child present." When Angus looked back over, Taako and Kravitz were still close together, but it was more of a hug now. Both of Kravitz's hands were on Taako's hips. One of Taako's hands was on Kravitz's chest, the other fiddled with his collar. "I'll call you when we get there. You can help with the overall caper."

"I could stay here," Angus offered, trying to hide his disappointment. "I'm sure you'd have more fun together."

Taako whipped around to face him, swelling like an offended cat.  "Are you saying I'm bad company!"

"No!" Angus yelped. 

"You owe me a  _story,_ there's no getting out of it!"

"I know, I wasn't trying, I mean I wouldn't--"

Taako flung one arm out in the direction of the waterfall. "March, kiddo! Get on the binicorn and  _like it!"_

Angus scrambled to obey, chased by the sound of Kravitz's laughter.

It took them nearly the whole rest of the day to find the cave that was calling Taako. Angus ended up telling him not just  _a_  story, but most of the really good ones he'd acquired over his years as a detective. Once they got there, instead of storming right in, Taako pulled the smallest tent Angus had ever seen out of his infinity pockets and tossed it on the ground.

"Pocket spa," he told Angus with a wink, leading the way in. "Get you one."

"Are you going to call Kravitz?" Angus wondered later, holding perfectly still as Taako applied a mud mask to his face.

"Psh. Kravitz knows where I am, he'll show up when he's ready," Taako said, hair wrapped up in a towel, matching face mask already applied.

"Oh! I thought you meant you were going to call him on your Stone of Farspeech. How does he know?"

"Don't have a Stone of Farspeech." Taako sat back to appraise his work. "Eh," he said with a shrug. "It'll do. Kravitz says we're  _connected,_ or some smoopy shit like that. I don't know  _how_ he finds me, just that he does."

"Why don't you have a Stone of Farspeech?" Angus wondered, following Taako over to a set of lounge chairs by a roaring fire.

Taako flicked one hand imperiously. "Never did. There weren't that many people for me to contact before, and now I figure everyone knows where I am most of the time. Who needs one?" He nudged Angus with an elbow. "C'mon, gimmie another story."

Angus filed that information away for later. "It's your turn, sir," he insisted.

"Alright," Taako sighed, effecting a put-upon air. He held out his hands. A book appeared just above them to land with a solid thump. "How about we figure this out one together?" He showed Angus the cover, red leather embossed with gold. "This is an index of all the books in the library. We can use it to pull reference materials, figure out what's in that cave before we go after it." He arched a challenging eyebrow. "You in?"

Angus had begun vibrating joyously at the word  _index_. "Sir! That's  _amazing!"_

Taako rolled his eyes and flipped the book open. "Nerd," he huffed, but let Angus squish closer so they could share the book.

What they were looking for was a bracelet. Specifically, the Oath-breaker Bracelet, a legendary item known for bringing out the worst in people who went on to conquer a bunch of stuff and eventually get stabbed in the back. At some point, the bracelet had fallen out of use and into lore, apparently because it had gotten lost in this cave.

Once they knew what their objective was, Taako buffed the mask from Angus’s face, wrapped him up in some cozy pajamas, and popped him in a plush bed. Angus meant to stay up and try to mentally prepare himself for their adventure, but it was. The spa was  _so_  warm, the blankets were  _so_  comfy, the background white noise from the assorted water features were just…kind of…

The next morning, Angus dressed quickly and set out to find Taako. Who was not in the pocket spa. After a brief moment of panic, he discovered Taako outside, cooking breakfast over a crackling fire. Kravitz sat near him on an outcropping of rocks, teasing him about burning bacon while he sipped from a steaming mug.

“Mornin’, Ango,” Taako called. “You can’t have coffee, but there’s tea if you want it. Breakfast will be ready in a few, then we’re heading right in.”

“Thank you, sir,” Angus said.

After breakfast (not burned, actually really delicious), Taako led them into the cave. Angus didn’t tell them, but he was really nervous.

He didn’t have to be.

Taako let Angus solve the riddles. He and Kravitz handled the rest. Angus used his crossbow to help them with a few monsters, even managing to deliver the final blow once. Instead of being terrifying or stressful, the day they spent hunting for the Oath-breaker Bracelet was one of the best, most fun days Angus could remember.

“That was amazing, sir!” he cheered when Taako finally collected the bracelet, tucking it in one of his infinity pockets. “Are quests always like this? I can see why people like it!”

“It’s not one hundo percent good times,” Taako chuckled. “Sometimes it straight-up sucks. And it doesn’t hurt to have crazy-powerful amigos. Magic, baby!” He held his hand up for a high-five Kravitz gave him with a laugh. “Hell yeah.”

“Does your library have any beginner books on magic?” Angus asked, following Taako as he led the way back out into the world. “Maybe I could borrow some? Magic sure is useful!”

Taako looked back, expression complicated the way that meant he was thinking of his years with Osk. He plastered a smile over whatever he was actually feeling. “Sure thing, Angles,” he chirped. “In fact, why don’t I help you? At least the first few levels, anyway. Wouldn’t want you blowing yourself up with a book I gave you, Lup’d never let me live it down.”

Angus knew he should probably say no. Nothing attached to the Osk years could be strictly good. At the same time, private magic lessons with  _Taako_? Sign him the fuck up. “That sounds wonderful, sir!”

“Are you planning on riding back?” Kravitz asked as they approached the cave mouth. “Or can I just open a rift, save us all a lot of time?”

“Aw, babe.” Taako wound his arm through Kravitz’s. “Not a fan of camping?”

“Not a fan of explaining to your family why you vanished for three days,” he replied dryly.

Taako winced. “…Ah.”

“So!” Kravitz pulled out his scythe. “Shortcut?”

Lup was not pleased by Taako going AWOL and taking Angus with him. But that was okay.

Angus had a plan.

A few days after they returned from their quest, Angus found Taako playing with Trinket just outside the lair. Angus was nervous; Taako’s volatile emotional state meant no one could ever be completely sure how he would react to any given situation. Well. Maybe Lup could tell, but that wasn’t exactly—

Anyway, so this could go bad. Hopefully it wouldn’t. But it  _could._

Angus was still gonna do it.

“Hi sir,” he called, making sure to announce himself so Taako wouldn’t be startled.

Taako glanced back at him. “S’up, Agnus,” he greeted, holding a small cloth toy out for him. “Give ‘er a toss, would ya? Taako’s arm is tired.”

Angus threw the toy for Trinket, who took off after it like a shot. “I have something for you,” Angus said, mustering every drop of courage he had.

“Oh?” Taako squinted at him. “…Is it a bad thing, kid, ‘cause you look like you’re expecting me to fireball you.”

“Uh, well, I don’t think it’s bad? I think it’s a good thing.” Angus swallowed hard. “I, uh. I hope  you think so too.”

Taako sighed dramatically, turning to face him fully. He held out his hand expectantly.

Angus put a Stone of Farspeech into his palm.

Taako started at him.

“It’s just,” Angus burbled, twisting his hands anxiously, “if you can contact your family when you’re out on quests, they won’t worry so much. And if you need them, they can be there. You have a lot of people who love talking to you, sir, who miss you very much when you’re not around. And you…you still wear that long chain. That. That used to have the phylactery on it. So maybe you could put a new Stone of Farspeech on it instead…?” Angus looked down, determination collapsing into regret that boiled in his stomach. “Sorry, sir, it was probably presumptuous of me. You can just throw it away.”

Taako ignored him, pulling off his long mithral chain to thread the Stone of Farspeech onto it. “Nice,” he said with an approving nod. “Where’s yours?”

Angus jumped, heart swooping back up into his throat from where it’d been sinking through to his toes. “What?”

“Your Stone of Farspeech.” Taako made an impatient gesture. “Hand it over.”

“Wh…why do you need it?”

“Duh. You said his was to contact family, right?” His impatient gesture increased. “Gimme them digits, kid. Don’t leave me hanging.”

Angus burst into tears.

“Oh my gods,” Taako sighed, rolling his eyes even as he pulled Angus in for a hug. He looped his necklace back over his head. “Get it together, nugget, this is embarrassing.”

“I thought you’d be mad,” Angus wailed into Taako’s sternum. “I thought you’d say no!”

“Then why did you give it to me?” Taako asked, starting to sound annoyed. “If I’m such a huge jerkbag I’d throw a present back into a kid’s face, why try in the first place?”

“I wanted you to have it,” Angus sniffled, finally getting himself back under control. “And there was a chance you’d say yes.”

“Sap,” Taako sighed. He pressed his Stone into Angus’s hand. “Frequency. Give it. Before I decide I don’t want it.”

Angus attuned their stones, still sniffling, while Trinket raced back with her toy gripped joyously in her teeth. Instead of throwing it, Taako beat it about Angus’s body, encouraging Trinket to jump all over him. Eventually Angus toppled to the floor, giggling breathlessly, arms thrown around Trinket while she licked all over his face.

“Serves you right,” Taako said, turning to walk back into the cave. “Come on, this demands hot chocolate.”

Angus and the puppy raced after him.

**Taako**

After a while, the only person whose Stone wasn't attuned with his was Lucretia's.

Taako didn’t hate Lucretia. They’d known each other too long for that. There was too much history. He knew her too well, understood her motives, got on a bone-deep level that she had never meant to hurt him. Not any of them.

But Osk couldn’t have bought him from Sazed if Taako had been whole. If Taako had stayed on the Starblaster, if Lucretia had left him to find Lup while she worked on her ultimate plan, if she’d brought them in instead of pushing them away—

It could have been a lot different, was the thing. Those months spent re-learning his magic. That unique torture, paired the way it was with the illusion of consent. And underneath it all, the emptiness at his core where Lup should have been, where she’d been methodically, deliberately cut out, his whole soul lifted straight out in a way that left him bleeding—

So, yeah, not hate. It wasn’t simple enough for that. Taako missed Lucy, and he’d been betrayed by her. He wanted his sister back, and couldn’t convince himself that she’d never do this again. He wanted her to be sorry.

He couldn’t trust her apologies.

Angus gave him a Stone of Farspeech, and Taako had every frequency but hers. His little human sister.

One of his most precious people, who he’d crushed under the ruins of Wonderland. He’d left her to die. If Barry hadn’t found her she would have  _died_ and Taako never would have known what he’d done. All of this planar system would have been consumed by the Hunger with not one of them available to pilot the Starblaster—

Honestly, it haunted him. The what-ifs. The could-haves. He woke up sick with it, clinging to Kravitz or Trinket or Lup or Magnus or anyone, really, who found him. The world could have ended and he’d never have known.

He needed Lucretia’s frequency. She was still busy with her B.o.B., rebranded for the post-apocalyptic problems she was going to use it to solve. Benevolence. Sure. Kind of an arrogant brand, wasn’t it? Grandiose.

But anyway, what if she needed him one day? He didn’t want her to die. He wanted her to apologize in a way that mattered, whatever that meant. Maybe his Stone would be all that stood between her and a bad situation one day. He didn’t want to just, like,  _chat_ with her, she’d set those days pretty firmly ablaze. For the greater good, or whatever.

Look, it was  _complicated_ and he  _needed_ her  _frequency._

Lup wouldn’t get it for him. He asked her to take his stone and attune it with Lucretia’s and she refused. Well, she laughed in his face and called him a dingus who needed to face his problems on his own, basically the same thing.  After that friendly response, Taako elected not to ask anyone else.

Taako went to the moon.

He hid himself, cast Greater Invisibility and stalked her for a while. Few hours. Most of the day.  _Whatever._ He watched her throughout her day, organizing people and projects, setting this world back on its feet, some big gods damned hero.

At the end of the day, she went into her office, sat down behind her desk, sighed deep. “What are you doing, Taako?” she asked.

Taako dropped his spell, letting her see him where he sat in the seat across from her. He pressed his mouth into a thin, disapproving line. “Wouldn’t  _you_ like to know,” he quipped.

“That would be why I asked, yes.” She rubbed her forehead. “I’ve been trying all day to figure out what you could possibly want with me, and I just— I don’t know, Taako.”

“Maybe I just want to make you uncomfortable,” he said, lifting his chin in a way he knew she knew meant he was challenging her.

Lucretia sunk down into her chair, expression wretched. Despite himself, Taako’s heart ached for her. “Mission accomplished,” she said.

Taako surged from his seat, hand held out. “Give me your Stone of Farspeech.”

“Why?” she asked even as she dug it out.

“I don’t know.”

“You can have it,” she said, dropping it in his hand. “I was just wondering—”

“I don’t  _know,”_ he snapped, pressing their Stones together to attune them. “I mean, I’ve been asking myself, believe you me! Why should I care where you are or what you’re doing or if you’re okay, right? For  _years_ you didn’t care about any of that vis-à-vis good old Taako!” He tossed her Stone back at her. “Guess I’m a bigger idiot than you are.”

“I did care,” she protested.

“Not enough to check, apparently.”

“I thought you were safe!”

“I  _wasn’t!”_  he shouted. “I was— I was being sold by a guy I trusted and bought like a  _thing_ by a fucker who used me like a tool after  _months_ of torture that he only put me through because he could see the magic  _you took from me!_ You took  _everything_  from me!” His voice broke over the last words, chest heaving while his hands shook. “How could you do it?” he demanded. “How could you do that to me! To  _us!_  You threw us away like  _garbage_!”

“No!” Lucretia cried, finally moving around the desk to reach for him. She stopped when he flinched back, but her hands stayed up. “Please, Taako, I know I hurt you, I know I fucked up, but you were never garbage. I loved you all so much, I love you  _so much,_ I couldn’t stand to watch you hurt anymore. I thought—I thought I could fix it, that I could use my plan to save us, finally  _save us,_ once and for all. I just wanted to save you,” she said, mouth trembling as she fought tears.

“We always saved each other,” Taako said, squeezing his eyes shut. “That was the point, Lucretia. In a hundred cycles, we survived and lived and fought to save  _each other._ And you broke us apart. You took me from my family. And you didn’t—you didn’t even keep an eye on me, when I was that fractured ruined version of myself. You gave me to Sazed, who sold me to Osk.”

“I’m so sorry,” Lucretia gasped, hands tight over her mouth as her tears finally ran free. “I never meant for it to happen. I’m so sorry. What can I do to prove how sorry I am?”

“I don’t know,” Taako admitted, voice tight with his own tears. “I miss you, and I hate you, and I want you back and I don’t know how to let you  _back—”_

Lucretia grabbed him. Just wrapped her arms tight around him, clinging hard, harder than anyone other than Lup dared. Taako didn’t hold her back.

But he didn’t push her away, either.

“I’m going to make this right,” she wept into his shoulder. “I don’t…I don’t know how, yet. But we—we have years, now, for me to figure it out. I’ll keep trying. Please let me keep trying.”

“Don’t throw me away again,” Taako whispered.

Lucretia’s grip tightened impossibly. “I won’t. Taako, I won’t, I could never. You always said I learned fast, right? I learned this one the hard way, and I won’t forget it. We’re stronger together. I’m stronger with my family. I won’t ever, ever lose sight of that again.”

Taako Blinked away. He waited at the edge of the moon for less than ten minutes. Kravitz stepped out of a rift next to him. He gathered Taako close, one hand at the small of his back, the other cradling the back of his head. They didn’t move for a long, long time.

“Lup made turkey,” he said when Taako finally started to calm down.

Taako laughed wetly. “That figures.” He wiped his tears, cast Disguise Self to hide how red his eyes and skin and, ugh, just everything had gone, and gave Kravitz a firm nod. “Okay, let’s go.”

Lup didn’t ask him how it’d gone with Lucretia. That was fine; Lucy’d probably tell her later. For now, Taako settled in with (most of) his family, ate the comfort food his sister had made for him, and tried not to think of the future. It’d handle itself, and it’d be okay. Eventually.

Everything was gonna be okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only one interlude left! My awesome beta Hawk has it ready to go so I can post it on Valentine's Day. So romantic!!


	12. Red String Interlude III

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OOPS almost forgot. Here you go, have some sap!

Kravitz found Taako sitting up on the railing of a balcony, looking down at the bustling, joyous event coming together below him. His expression was...layered, something happy mixed in with slight melancholy, maybe a touch of wistfulness.

"Shouldn't you be in the kitchen?" Kravitz asked, dismissing his scythe so he could sit next to Taako, who turned to smile at him.

The elf, as usual, looked lovely. He was dressed for the occasion in a gorgeous pale lilac dress with an asymmetrical hem and off-shoulder sleeves that left his mithral Farstone chain—and collarbones—bared. His hat matched his dress exquisitely, large brim adorned with flowers and ivy. “Fancy meeting you here,” he teased.

“I didn’t realize your spread was unguarded,” Kravitz said, flicking the edge of Taako’s hat. “I should have swung through the kitchens to steal a taste.”

Taako snorted. “Like Lup would let you. Besides.” He shot Kravitz a wicked smirk. “My spread’s always unguarded around  _you,_ thug.”

Kravitz ignored the way his whole face—and neck and chest and parts of his stomach—suddenly felt really hot. He cleared his throat while Taako laughed. “Why’re you hiding up here alone, love?” he asked when Taako calmed down.

“I’m not hiding,” Taako said, not quite a sulk but edging towards it. When he looked down, though, he couldn’t seem to suppress the gentle smile wanting to blossom. “It’s just…we’ve come really far, y’know? I couldn’t have imagined being here even, like, a year ago.” He made a sweeping gesture to encompass the event prep below. “I didn’t know most of those people, the ones I did know I thought were enemies or obstacles or—something.” He grinned at Kravitz, bumping their shoulders together. “I didn’t even know you existed. And now look at us! Attending fancy shindigs together like an old married couple.”

“The passion is already dead,” Kravitz agreed. He laughed and swayed when Taako tried to shove him off the balcony. “So it’s overwhelming?” he asked. “That makes sense. You were all by yourself for a long time, and this is a lot of people.”

“It’s not overwhelming so much as—” Taako struggled, trying to put words to whatever had driven him up there. “…While they were all out there,” he murmured, “saving the world and…stuff. I was a thief for a dracolich.” His shoulders drooped. “What am I even doing here?”

Before Kravitz could answer, a crimson Mage Hand knocked Taako backwards and clear off the railing onto the balcony floor. He fell with a startled squawk. Kravitz, scrambling to catch him, managed to get a hand around his booted ankle that ended up just yanking him to the ground too.

They scrambled back up together, peering over the railing to see who was attacking them.

Lup glared up at them, hands on her hips. “Don’t talk about my brother that way,” she shouted. “And get your head out of your ass  _right now,_ this cake isn’t going to decorate itself!”

Taako dropped his forehead to the railing to both groan and laugh. “I can’t believe I missed her,” he said wonderingly.

Kravitz wound their hands together and stood so he could pull Taako with him. “Duty calls,” he said.

“You said duty,” Taako snickered.

Kravitz rolled his eyes, tugging Taako close for a hug and a kiss. “Go help your sister,” he said while bumping their foreheads together. “I’ve never seen you make anything as fancy as a wedding cake—“

“Wedding  _feast,”_ Taako corrected with a toss of his perfectly coiffed head. “It’s not just a cake, buddy.”

“—wedding  _feast,”_ Kravitz amended, spinning Taako out with a small push and a lifted hand. They both appreciated the way Taako’s skirt flared. (Taako’d picked this dress  _because_ of its twirly properties. They were going to absolutely kill it on the dance floor later.) “Go wow me.”

“I wow you every day,” Taako sniffed, nose in the air.

“True,” Kraitz admitted on a chuckle. “This’ll be today’s amazement.”

“Today’s amazement won’t be suitable for the public,” Taako said, “but this can be today’s, like, gift from Taako. Taako’s present to the wedding party. Taako Tribute.”

“You gotta make it first,” Kravitz pointed out.

“Your bread is burning!” Lup shouted from somewhere down below.

Taako cursed and whipped around to race back to the kitchen.

“Save me a dance!” Kravitz called after him.

“Sap!” Taako yelled. “Just for that, I’m gonna monopolize your whole dance card.”

“Looking forward to it,” Kravitz hummed. He went to find a good seat for the ceremony, which would keep him out of the way and make sure Taako couldn’t hide in the back later.

It was beautiful, of course, Carey and Killian both radiant with love and joy. Everyone— _everyone—_ cried right on through the entire event. Afterward, they ate and drank and danced and laughed like family, not perfect but getting there, not whole yet but healing. Taako and Lup’s feast brought more tears to quite a few eyes and sent at least one little boy straight into a snoring food coma.

Kravitz couldn’t remember feeling happier or more loved, with Taako at his side and his new reaper partners around him, the extended IPRE Birds and their partners, their friends, all sharing this moment together.

And right up until the last song, Kravitz and Taako danced, into the morning and the daylight, the ending they’d earned, their bright and wondrous forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ta-da! THE END. I hope you enjoyed the story :D There's a new, unrelated one coming soon. Please check it out!

**Author's Note:**

> I have a tumblr! [ Play with meeee ](http://distractedkat.tumblr.com)


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